Keighley-based Mosley did not have the necessary competence and capability to provide financial advice to his clients and failed to treat his customers fairly, ruled the FSA.
As the Yorkshire IFA Mosley was the sole director and only FSA approved person working at Mosley & Company, the FSA has cancelled Mosley & Company’s permission to carry on regulated activities.
The FSA found that Mosley made potentially misleading statements to customers about their rights and told some of his customers that his services were ‘execution-only,’ when they were advised sales.
He also sought to exclude or restrict his duties to customers, encouraging them to sign a waiver declaring that they ‘could see no wrongful advice now or in the future.’
Other unprofessional and wrongful behaviour included failing to research products adequately for his customers, failed to assess his customers’ personal and financial circumstances or record adequately why his recommendations were suitable.
Mosley recommended and arranged regulated mortgages for his customers, when he was not qualified to do so and failed to ensure an adequate complaints handling process was in place for his clients.
Bill Sillett, head of retail enforcement at the FSA, said: “In taking this action, we are protecting the public from an IFA who misled his customers and was neither competent, capable nor qualified.
Mosley has now been banned and fined. This should act as a message that the FSA will dedicate time and resource to punishing misconduct across all areas of the financial services industry, whether the firm is small or large.”
