On 29 October 2013 the regulator published a warning about the firm Joe Kernan & Sons suggesting it was acting without authorisation.
However, after Mortgage Solutions reported on the story, the firm got in touch with the FCA and satisfied the regulator that it would meet its concerns. As a result, the FCA confirmed this morning it was withdrawing its warning about the firm and had no further enquiries at this time.
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The Financial Conduct Authority has warned consumers about a property management firm it believes is selling financial services or products without authorisation.
The regulator said Joe Kernan & Sons, based in County Armagh, Northern Ireland, was not authorised by the regulator but had been targeting consumers in the UK.
In a statement it said: “Almost all firms and individuals offering, promoting or selling financial services of products in the UK have to be authorised by us.”
Of particular concern to the FCA was the way the firm represented itself on its website.
A Joe Kernan & Sons spokesman said the firm acted as an introducer to the regulated firm The Finance and Mortgage Store. He said it would be altering its website to make its position more transparent.
He dismissed the claim the website was misleading: “There was never any false information on there. We needed to write that we are financial introducers to First Complete and we are not independent financial advisers.”
The firm’s website had described the firm as “independent financial advisers” with an extensive, highly-qualified team. This description has now been removed.
In its warning, the FCA said: “You should also be aware that if you give money to an unauthorised firm, you will not be covered by the Financial Ombudsman Service or Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) if things go wrong.”
First Complete head of compliance Donald Fraser said it would be inaccurate to describe the firm as introducers to the network: “Joe Kernan & Sons are a registered ‘mortgage only’ introducer to the firm Richard Chambers, trading as Finance and Mortgage Store, which is an appointed representative of First Complete.”
