1 Stop Financial Services and Fast Pensions

07 Jan, 2020

FSCS is suspending its investigation into Fast Pensions Ltd.

For FSCS to consider claims:

• the firm must have failed
• customers must have first exhausted any right to claim against any connected firm still trading.

Fast Pensions Ltd was not an FCA or PRA-authorised firm. But we’re aware that FCA-authorised advisers may have recommended transferring pensions or investments to Fast Pensions. You can check the status of your adviser on the FCA register. 

Unfortunately, we haven’t found any evidence to show that FCA-authorised or regulated firms were, or should have been, aware of Fast Pension’s actions regarding pension money. This means we can’t establish that these firms may owe customers a civil liability regarding transfers to Fast Pensions. The result is that we’re suspending our investigation into Fast Pensions Ltd.

If your advisor was not FCA regulated when moving your occupational pension to Fast Pensions, FSCS can’t compensate you. This is because there is no FCA/PRA-regulated firm to make a claim against. But you may be able to make a claim directly to your previous pension provider. You'd be claiming against the quality of the checks they carried out when transferring your pension to Fast Pensions.

If your advisor was FCA-authorised, is still trading, and you believe you were misadvised to transfer your existing pension or to invest through Fast Pensions, you need to complain to them first. If they reject your complaint, you can take it to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS).

If your advisor was FCA-authorised, is no longer trading, and you believe you were misadvised to transfer your existing pension or to invest through Fast Pensions, you should submit a claim to us against your financial adviser. You’ll need evidence to show that the adviser was, or should have been, aware of Fast Pension’s actions regarding pension money.

We may be able to restart our investigation if we receive this evidence against an FCA-authorised adviser.

If you think you’ve got a claim, click the ‘Check you can claim’ button to start the process.

29 Oct, 2019

FSCS is still trying to discover if there are valid claims involving Fast Pensions Ltd and associated regulated IFAs.

As reported by the trustee Dalriada and the Insolvency Service, Fast Pensions and associated companies failed to keep or maintain adequate records. So, we’ve not yet been able to establish how investors became aware of Fast Pensions Ltd, or how their money was invested.

We’re working with the trustee and other parties, including the police, to get documentation. This will help us decide if there are valid claims. In the meantime, please look at our previous update outlining where you should submit a claim. This will vary, depending on the status of the FCA-authorised adviser you dealt with.

19 Aug, 2019

To consider claims against a failed firm, FSCS must be satisfied that customers have first exhausted any right to claim against any connected firms that are still trading. Fast Pensions Limited itself was not a Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)/Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA)-regulated firm, but FSCS understands that a number of FCA-authorised advisers may have recommended transfers of existing pensions or investments to Fast Pensions Limited.  

If you believe you were mis-advised by an FCA-authorised adviser that’s still trading to transfer your existing pension or to invest through Fast Pensions Ltd, you need to complain to them first. If your adviser rejects your complaint, you can take your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). 

If you believe you were mis-advised by an FCA-authorised adviser that’s no longer trading to transfer your existing pension into or invest through Fast Pensions Ltd, you should submit a claim to FSCS against your financial adviser.

If you didn’t deal with an FCA-authorised adviser when moving an occupational pension to Fast Pensions Ltd, FSCS is unlikely to be able to compensate you for any losses you’ve incurred. This is because there is unlikely to be a FCA/PRA-regulated firm to make a claim against. In this scenario, you may be able to make a claim directly to your previous pension provider in relation to the checks they carried out when transferring your pension to the firm.

FSCS is accepting claims involving the firm, but any claims received will not immediately be passed to our claims processing teams for assessment. 

Firstly, FSCS needs to establish whether there are protected claims involving Fast Pensions Ltd. For this to happen FSCS needs to know that independent financial advisers (IFAs) owe a civil liability to customers in respect of transfers to Fast Pensions Ltd.

FSCS has been in contact with Cheshire Police to obtain further information to help with our investigation into the practices of Fast Pensions Ltd and associated IFAs. We are specifically trying to establish how investors became aware of Fast Pensions Ltd and how customers’ money was invested.

25 Jun, 2019

FSCS is accepting claims against failed FCA authorised financial advisers, including 1 Stop Financial Services, who gave advice to customers to transfer their pensions into one of the 15 schemes linked to Fast Pensions.

However, claims have not yet been passed to our claims teams for assessment. Firstly we need to establish whether there are protected claims against these financial advisers. For this to happen we need to know that the financial advisers who gave the advice owe a civil liability to customers that would enable them to be sued in court.

FSCS has been working with the independent trustee, Dalriada, and other parties in order to obtain firm records and other documentation that will help us to reach a view on whether there are protected claims.