FCA probes SIPP providers about number of non-standard investments – what does it mean for your pension?

Has high-complaints driven the FCA to weigh up options about mis-sold pensions?

• Regulator asks SIPP providers to show their cards
• Non-standard investments focal point on investigation
• What IS a non-standard Investment?
• Could you be effected?

The Financial Conduct Authority has asked all providers of Self-Invested Personal Pensions (SIPPs) to reveal the details of any non-standard investments they hold in their SIPP accounts, AND how these investments ended up with them!

The move, which follows on from a similar enquiry a few years ago, includes any non-standard investments that may have ended up in SIPPs as part of a DFM portfolio.

What is a Non-Standard Investment?

A textbook example of a non-standard investment would be one that is difficult to value accurately, and difficult to release (sell out of) within 30 days. This means they are a bit more “illiquid” that normal assets, which can generally be bought and sold at will (think cliché stock market films – BUY BUY BUY, SELL SELL SELL!).

Because they are difficult to value and slow to sell, they are considered to be high-risk, and therefore in terms of financial advice, not suitable for every Joe Bloggs on the street. If you’re worried, we published a list of high-risk investments on our website, although the list is by no-means finished!

Why is the FCA bothering?

Well, over the past 6 years there’s been an almost ever-increasing number of complaints from clients who ended up with non-standard, high-risk investments in their SIPPs, many of whom have lost big money.

To put it into perspective, £105 MILLION was paid out in the year 2016 – 2017 by the FSCS in cases related to mis-sold SIPPs, and to date, Spencer Churchill Claims Advice has been responsible for £Millions* worth of payouts for the same sort of thing!

With figures like that, it’s difficult to call it anything less than a scandal – one the FCA is aware of.

Could you be effected by SIPP mis-selling?

Well, question one is simple: Do you have a SIPP?

If you do, then do you know what sort of investments are in it? Looking back, do you feel like they were pushed on you a bit? Have you ended up in non-standard investments without realising it?

The team at Spencer Churchill Claims Advice deal with mis-sold pensions everyday, and offer a FREE and NO OBLIGATION assessment of your pension transfer and investment to see if you have been mis-sold.

If you have, you may be able to make a claim with no upfront cost! Just like hundreds of other clients over the past few years who we’ve helped win their money back.

Please note: you have an initial cooling off period of 14 days, if you cancel outside of this period you may be charged for the work carried out and if we have already submitted your claim, which results in an offer of compensation subsequently being made, we will charge our full fee as per our T&Cs – our fee is 20% + VAT – a total of 24%.