A sole Director was found to lack the necessary competence and capability to provide financial advice to his clients and to have failed to treat customers fairly, resulting in IFA firm Mosley & Company being fined and banned by the FSA.
He has been prohibited from holding a Significant Influence Function or acting as a sole trader.
According to the FSA, Mosley recommended and arranged regulated mortgages for his customers when he was not qualified to do so.
He was also found to have made potentially misleading statements to customers about their rights, to have told some of his customers that his services were ‘execution only’ when in reality they were advised sales and sought to exclude or restrict his duties to customers, encouraging them to sign a waiver declaring that they ‘could see no wrongful advice now or in the future’.
The FSA said that Mosley had failed to adequately research products for his customers, and failed to assess his customers’ personal and financial circumstances and adequately record why his recommendations were suitable. Furthermore, he failed to ensure an adequate complaint handling process was in place.
Bill Sillett, Head of Retail Enforcement at the FSA, said: "In taking this action, we are protecting the public from an IFA who misled his customers and was neither competent, capable nor qualified.
“Mosley has now been banned and fined. This should act as a message that the FSA will dedicate time and resource to punishing misconduct across all areas of the financial services industry, whether the firm is small or large."
Mosley, whose company is based in Keighley, West Yorkshire, was fined £10,500 for the breaches.
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