FSA Ban ‘Unfit’ Broker From Regulated Activites

by Stewart Douglas

Story link: FSA Ban ‘Unfit’ Broker From Regulated Activites

The Financial Services Authority has today banned a former insurance broker from selling insurance products under their regulation after accusations of malpractice and dishonesty were founded against the broker.

Richard Wolf, director of Rotheville Insurance Brokers, was the subject of independent complaints to the Financial Services Authority from insurance brokers who claimed his negligence had unknowingly left several clients without adequate insurance protection.

The Financial Services Authority, the body responsible for managing ‘regulated’ activities within the financial markets, struck off Wold after initial inquiries turned up irregularities in the way in which his business was run and the way he handled customer relationships.

Having been found to have fallen foul of Financial Services Authority requirements as well as exercising dishonest business practices, Wolf will no longer be allowed to sell insurance products, or work independently within the financial services industry where he requires Financial Services Authority regulation, having been deemed ‘unfit’ for such rights.

The alarm bells were set in motion after two separate brokers announced they were owed in excess of £40,000 in paid up share premiums from Wolf and his company, which he had retained for personal use upon receipt from his clients without accounting to the end broker.

The result of this kind of dishonest activity was to leave the innocent insurance clients without the insurance cover they had paid for, which could have had potentially catastrophic effects for their business in the event of disaster.

The FSA have today said that they saw fit to remove Wolf from working within the regulated financial markets as a means of protecting customers and maintaining the reputation of the industry.

Additionally, it reassured all customers that its mechanisms for routing out unscrupulous traders were well developed, in order to provide maximum customer security within particular regulated financial trades.