The Financial Services Compensation Scheme has placed KBFS Financial Ltd and Kathryn Brown under investigation over British Steel Pension Scheme claims.
The FSCS announced today (April 9) that the firm KBFS Financial Ltd is under investigation in relation to claims regarding the British Steel Pension Scheme.
KBFS Financial, a firm based in Weymouth, has not had any claims upheld against it as of yet.
The authorisation of KBFS Financial Ltd was withdrawn by the FCA in February of this year as a result of enforcement action, meaning it can no longer provide regulated activities and products.
The FCA’s action took effect on February 9 and, as a consequence, KBFS was no longer an authorised firm for the purposes of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 and it could not carry on regulated activities which fall within the scope of the act.
The investigation into KBFS Financial is being conducted in tandem to an investigation into Kathryn Brown, the name of KBFS’s director and the sole trader which incorporated KBFS five years ago.
The FSCS advised that, if customers received advice prior to July 1 2019, then the advice was likely given by the firm Kathryn Brown, rather than KBFS, and so claims should be set up against this firm.
Similarly to KBFS Financial, the firm Kathryn Brown has had no claims upheld against it so far.
Both KBFS Financial Limited and Kathryn Brown are associated with claims regarding the British Steel Pension Scheme and defined benefit transfer advice related to other occupational pension schemes.
BSPS
In 2017, many British Steel workers were advised to transfer out of their defined benefit pension into a self-invested personal pensions.
The FCA set up a redress scheme for people who were advised to transfer out of the British Steel Pension Scheme between May 26, 2016 and March 29, 2018.
This redress scheme started on February 28, 2023 and firms should have contacted their impacted clients about the BSPS.
As part of this client contact, firms were asked to review the advice they gave, identify if it was unsuitable, and calculate and pay to redress to clients where the unsuitable advice caused a financial loss.
As both KBFS Financial Limited and Kathryn Brown have now gone out of business, neither will be able to take part in the redress scheme and, instead, claimants can now make a claim directly with the FSCS.
tom.dunstan@ft.com
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