By Julie Lord

Recently the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has made changes to the adviser register, removing the name of those in client facing roles.

The new Senior Managers and Certification Regime, in force since 9 December, has made it the responsibility of advice firms to check the “fit and proper” status of its advisers.

We are all well aware of the ever-increasing risk of financial scams, and there is no doubt that the scammers are getting more and more clever and sophisticated.

We’ve heard stories of adviser firms being “cloned”, – their websites and paperwork all copied so the scammers can make themselves look very professional and genuine. 

Scammers contact potential clients, often out of the blue, purporting to be working for perfectly legitimate firms, in the hope that they will convince an unwitting person to part with their hard earned cash, with the person and the money, more likely than not, never to be seen again.  

The FCA Register used to provide the one place where the consumer could check that they were dealing with an authorised individual, but that has now gone and isn’t set to be replaced until December 2020.

The scammers must be rubbing their hands with glee – what an opportunity!  They now have free rein to explain that they are not on the register for a perfectly legitimate reason – they don’t need to be. 

This may not apply to you as you already have an adviser, but for those who may not, they could be targeted and potentially scammed. So, we are encouraging as many people as possible to share this with friends and family in the hope that we can prevent any losses.

We are always wary in our day to day dealings with clients, always checking their identity, knowing our clients well enough that we can identify actions that are out of character and double checking with them when they want to make any changes or withdrawals from their investments. 

We now live in a world where the scammers are often cleverer, or probably more devious, corrupt and immoral, than we realise so it is important that we are all on high alert to ensure our future security.

If you are concerned about the security of your money, please do not hesitate to call us.