FSA comes down hard on non-conforming failings

Homebuyer Securities Limited, which was based in Redditch, was told by the regulator to stop trading as a result of its investigation after it was found it did not ensure all of its intermediaries were qualified to give advice.

Meanwhile, the Loan Company, trading as Greenhill Finance, from Sandbach, and Next Generation Mortgages Limited, based in Cardiff, were fined £31,500 and £10,500 respectively.

Both firms failed to rectify record-keeping errors uncovered during previous visits in 2005 and did not gather information to explain why a product had been recommended.

The Loan Company also failed to train its staff adequately, while Next Generation Mortgages did not show clients the risk of taking out a non-conforming mortgage.

Jonathan Phelan, head of retail enforcement at the FSA, said: “The significant bedding-down period has now finished and the fact we did work after a year and then followed this up and found similar failings is disappointing. We want firms to know that we will come down hard on anyone who isn’t treating their customers fairly. These firms taint the whole industry and they need to know they will be stopped.”

Phelan admitted that the investigation into two other firms found to have failings by the review was still ongoing.

Frank Thurlby, head of compliance at GHL Group, commented: “There must be some frustration at the FSA that people are still not doing things in the correct way. It has got to wonder why this is and whether it’s a case of people not grasping regulation or just ignoring it. If it’s denial, this is a cavalier attitude but I think the biggest issue is that many small firms are just overwhelmed.”

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