Tribunal upholds FCA fine and ban on adviser

The Upper Tribunal has upheld the FCA’s decision to fine and ban a financial adviser. The FCA had decided Darren Reynolds had caused customers significant harm by acting dishonestly and showing a clear disregard for their interests when giving pension transfer advice and investment recommendations. He advised BSPS members to transfer out of their defined benefit pension scheme  (including allowing 2 unapproved individuals to give advice) and also advised customers to invest in products which were high risk and unsuitable, and hid information on high exit fees. Finally, the FCA found evidence of forged documents. The Tribunal upheld not only the FCA’s decision but also the amount of its proposed fine, which included an uplift for the aggravating factors. The fine was confirmed as £2,037,892.

Therese Chambers said this was the worst conduct the FCA had seen of all its BSPS related cases. Mr Reynolds was disqualified from acting as a director for 13 years from 2021 after an Insolvency Service investigation.