Tribunal upholds FCA bans and fines for pension adviser and fund manager

The Upper Tribunal has upheld the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) decisions to ban and fine an adviser and fund manager.

Stephen Burdett and James Goodchild previously held senior roles at Synergy Wealth Limited and Westbury Private Clients LLP respectively.

The FCA banned both men from working in regulated financial services for “recklessly exposing pension holders to unsuitable investments”.

The regulator also imposed fines of £265,071 on Burdett and £47,600 on Goodchild, with the Tribunal upholding both the bans and fines.

According to the FCA, 232 personal pension funds worth more than £10m were switched into high-risk investment portfolios that were “obviously unsuitable”.

These portfolios were created and managed by Goodchild, the regulator added, with around 38 per cent of overall holdings linked to a single offshore property developer.

The FCA said that Burdett allowed Synergy’s customers to receive reports that indicated their money would be placed in low- or medium-risk portfolios, despite his knowledge the portfolios were high risk.

Furthermore, Burdett acted as a director of Synergy, despite knowing that he did not have the required FCA approval to do so, and failed to co-operate with the regulator’s investigation.

In 2016, the FCA stepped in to stop the pensions business of Synergy and Westbury, with both firms subsequently going into liquidation and dissolved.

To date, the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) has paid out over £1.4m to victims.

"People trusted Mr Burdett and Mr Goodchild with their hard-earned savings and were badly let down,” commented FCA joint executive director of enforcement and market oversight, Therese Chambers.

“The pair worked together to switch customers' pensions into obviously unsuitable, high-risk investments.

"They made significant personal profits from their actions. We will not tolerate such conduct and are pleased that the Tribunal agrees."

The Tribunal noted that Burdett’s actions showed little regard for the interests of Synergy’s clients by investing in a high-risk and inappropriate way, and Goodchild was an experienced and qualified investment manager who “must have known of the risk of putting together for pension holders of varying risk appetites portfolios with any significant levels of concentration of investment into an obviously high risk project”.

This article originally appeared in our sister publication Pensions Age.

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