The FCA has fined Frank Breuer, formerly joint owner and sole director of Bluesky Wealth Management Limited, £755,000 and banned him. Mr Breuer carried out at least 16 DB pension transfers, which the firm was permitted to advise on but for which it lacked appropriate insurance, in the knowledge that he was uninsured. He also repeatedly misled the FCA about the insurance position.
Appropriate insurance had not been in place from April 2019, and in October that year Mr Breuer agreed to FCA restrictions intended to protect customers and the firm’s assets, but he in fact stripped the firm’s assets by making payments and loans to himself and moving money through connected accounts. By late 2020 he became aware that the FCA had concerns about the suitability of the firm’s advice, and 2 years later the FOS started to uphold complaints against it. Mr Breuer then placed the firm into an insolvency process, leaving customer liabilities of over £200,000.
So far, the FSCS has paid customers for all known liabilities.
The total FCA penalty included disgorgement of financial benefit.