FSCS begins probe after Rowanmoor SIPP arm fails

Major SIPP and SSAS firm Rowanmoor Personal Pensions Limited (RPPL) has gone into administration. The business was previously part of Embark Group but was floated off as a standalone business in February when Lloyds Banking Group bought the Embark business for £390m. Rowanmoor Personal Pensions Limited is a Self-Invested Personal Pension operator and is authorised and regulated by the FCA. RPPL runs about 4,800 pensions and has assets under administration of £1.4bn. The Financial Services Compensation Scheme has today declared the firm "under investigation." The FSCS says it has not yet received any claims against Rowanmoor directly but is expecting a "number" of complaints to come over from the Financial Ombudsman Service which has been dealing with a flood of complaints about Rowanmoor. The FSCS said it will need to confirm that valid claims exist under FSCS rules before it can declare the firm in default. However, the FSCS has confirmed to Financial Planning Today that it has already paid out on claims against failed IFAs who 'misadvised' clients in relation to their Rowanmoor SIPP. Earlier this year the Financial Ombudsman Service issued a determination following a complaint by a Mr T. against Rowanmoor Pensions. The determination covered not just Mr T. but was relevant to the 1,387 SIPP investment holders quoted in the determination who had been clients of Rowanmoor. Many of the cases involved the due diligence applied by Rowanmoor on investment sales by a regulated advice firm and an appointed rep working with the company. The advice firms sold investments in a Cape Verde-based group to be included in clients' SIPPs. RPPL’s directors have appointed Adam Stephens and Chris Allen of Evelyn Partners LLP as joint administrators and the administrators will be writing to clients shortly about next steps. According to the FCA, RPPL received a number of complaints about "historic high-risk non-standard assets" and for not carrying out "adequate" due diligence before accepting these assets into customers’ SIPPs. The Financial Ombudsman Service upheld a complaint which was representative of most of the complaints received. Following the string of complaints, RPPL sought professional advice about liabilities arising from existing and potential complaints. After the review RPPL’s directors determined that the company was insolvent and should be placed into administration. The administrators said today that although RPPL has entered administration the pension scheme assets (including cash) are held in trust by Rowanmoor Trustees Limited (RTL), which has not entered administration. The failure of Rowanmoor follows the recent failure of competitor Hartley Pensions which has also gone into administration. • This is a developing story, please check back for updates.

FSCS begins probe after Rowanmoor SIPP arm fails

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