The Financial Conduct Authority has banned Denis Lee Morgan of Pembrokeshire Mortgage Centre Limited (in liquidation) (PMC).
Specifically it has stopped him from advising any customers on pension transfers and pension opt outs, and from holding any senior management function in a regulated firm.
The regulator said Morgan demonstrated a lack of competence in his oversight of PMC’s pension transfer advice process between 8 June 2015 and 7 December 2017.
This had a particular impact on customers between August and November 2017, when PMC advised an average of 65 people customers a month – largely members of the British Steel Pension Scheme (BSPS).
The total value of the transferred funds on which PMC gave advice was approximately £123m, with an average transfer value per customer of approximately £293,000.
For BSPS scheme members the average was £314,000.
As at 30 November 2022, the FSCS has upheld 213 claims against PMC and paid out over £13.3m in compensation.
This latest enforcement action comes on the back of its ban and fine of adviser Mark Abley of County Capital Wealth Management Ltd (in liquidation) (CCWM).
Abley was fined £106,000 to fund the compensation of clients who he advised to transfer out of their defined benefit (DB) schemes.
The FCA has also completed around 30 investigations into British Steel advisers and firms.
In the current case Morgan was either the primary adviser or the pension transfer specialist on all these files, which meant he was ultimately responsible for the quality of advice.
In most cases, Morgan failed to consider the customers’ financial situation, retirement needs, their attitude to risk or that transferring would be in their best interests.
This meant people in a vulnerable position did not get the quality of advice they needed to make an informed decision.
FCA joint executive director of enforcement Therese Chambers said: “People depended on Morgan to provide them with suitable advice on one of the most important decisions of their life. His incompetence put their retirement funds at unnecessary risk, while earning over £2m in fees for his firm, which he didn’t deserve.
“Where advisers fail to take reasonable steps to ensure the advice they provide is suitable for customers, we will take action to prevent them harming other customers.”
PMC has already been fined £2,354,331 for unsuitable advice to customers to transfer out of the BSPS and other defined benefit pension schemes.
The FCA said any customers who were advised to transfer should contact the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) to see if they are owed redress.
In November 2022 the FCA announced a redress scheme for consumers who had transferred out of BSPS.
