The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has banned Vintage Investment Services (Vintage) partners, Steven Hodgson and Paul Adams, from advising any customers on pension transfers and opt outs.

According to the FCA, Hodgson and Adams poorly advised people to transfer out of defined benefit (DB) pension schemes, including the British Steel Pension Scheme (BSPS).

The FCA revealed that Vintage advised 97 per cent of its DB pension clients to transfer out of their pension between January 2016 and December 2017, and 98.8 per cent of those customers followed the firm’s advice.

In total, 165 people transferred out, including 93 members of the BSPS, with an average completed transfer value of over £420,000 (£375,000 for BSPS members).

Adams and Hodgson were found to be responsible for this poor advice, around two thirds of which did not meet the required standards.

The FCA also found that 132 customers continued to pay Vintage for ongoing advice after being wrongly advised to transfer.

As a result, both Hodgson and Adams were banned from advising any customers on pension transfers and opt outs, as well as holding any senior management function in a regulated firm.

In addition to this, the watchdog ordered Hodgson and Adams to pay £32,700 and £53,200 respectively to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) to contribute towards redress owed to Vintage customers.

FCA joint executive director of enforcement and market oversight, Therese Chambers, said: "People rely on good-quality pensions advice to secure a comfortable retirement. Adams and Hodgson fell far short of this basic expectation, earning significant fees for themselves in the process. Their fines will go to the FSCS to offset the cost of their failings."

This article originally appeared in our sister publication Pensions Age.

---