The latest probe into Unregulated Collective Investment Schemes (UCIS), a funding model surrounded by controversy and utilised by some bridging lenders, is to be conducted by the BBC programme Panorama.

The investigation will specifically question why some advisers have recommended their clients to move their existing funds to invest in UCIS models, via their Self-Invested Personal Pensions (SIPPs), when the investor does not fully understand the nature of the UCIS model or that it is unregulated.

The FSA has issued a warning following its findings: “We have seen cases where, as a result of these advisory strategies involving unauthorised firms, customers have transferred out of more traditional pension schemes and invested their retirement savings wholly in unregulated assets via SIPPs, taking on very high and often entirely unsuitable levels of risk despite receiving advice on the pension transfer from regulated firms.”

In particular, the FSA found instances where: “An introducer will pass customer details to an unregulated firm, which markets an unregulated investment. When the customer expresses an interest in the unregulated investment, the customer is introduced to a regulated financial adviser to provide advice on a SIPP capable of holding the unregulated investment.

“The financial adviser does not give advice on the unregulated investment, and says it is only providing advice on a SIPP capable of holding the unregulated investment. Sometimes the regulated financial adviser also assists the customer to unlock monies held in other investments so that the customer is able to invest in the unregulated investment.”

Such findings suggest that until now, both regulated firms and the FSA have unwittingly allowed retail investors to place their funds within such models.

One particular campaign group, The Connaught Action Group, has suggested that investigations by the BBC will go some way to discovering how regulated firms and “…the FSA could have allowed Unregulated Collective Investment Schemes (UCIS) such as Connaught and Arch Cru to go so horribly wrong, especially given that many of the losses have been sustained by pensioners or people of working age saving for their pensions”.

Further critique of the FSA’s conduct in recent times came from its own Head of Enforcement, who admitted at the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards last week that it is much easier to clamp down on smaller firms than the larger banks.

This criticism comes ahead of the appointment of the new Bank of England Governor, Mark Carney, who will face questions from MPs on how he intends to make the institution more accountable.