FCA issues £1.28m fine to ‘seriously incompetent’ advisor

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has issued a £1.28m fine to Geoffrey Edward Armin for “seriously incompetent” advisory activities.

Armin, of Retirement and Pension Planning Services Ltd (RPPS), has also been banned from performing senior management functions and advising consumers on pension transfers and pension opt outs.

The defendant had advised 422 customers on the transfer of their defined benefit pensions into other arrangements.

However, the FCA claimed that in his actions Armin breached both statement of principal two, which relates to “conducting business with due skill, care and diligence”, and statement of principal seven, regarding “taking reasonable steps to ensure that RPPS complied with relevant regulatory requirements and standards”.

The body stated that Armin “failed to obtain” necessary information to assess customer suitability for the transfers, disregarding individual financial situations.

Some £125m was advised by Armin, with the average value for customers advised roughly £298,000.

In turn, RPPS received £2.2m in fees, with roughly £1.2m of this retained by the company and Armin himself.

The FCA added: “Mr Armin received a significant financial benefit from the advice he provided on defined benefit pension transfers. 

“As a result, the fine the FCA has decided to impose on Mr Armin is seeking to remove the benefits he received.”