FCA fines adviser £110k over forged qualifications

"The FCA considers that Miss Parry’s behaviour amounted to a failure to act with integrity, and that she poses a risk to consumers and to the integrity of the financial system."

Elizabeth Parry was authorised in May 2006 as a sole trader to conduct investment and mortgage business and, from January 2015, for consumer credit activities.

Since 2013, retail investment advisers have been required to hold a Statement of Professional Standing and achieve the relevant professional qualifications, as part of changes following the RDR.

According to the FCA, Parry made misleading statements to the FCA to make them believe that she had the appropriate qualifications and that she had engaged in numerous dealings with her professional body, the CII, as to why it had not supplied her with an SPS.

She then submitted multiple fabricated documents to the FCA, which purported to be an SPS issued by the CII.

Following enquiries by the FCA, in July 2015 the CII informed the FCA that it had no record of Miss Parry applying for, or being issued with, an SPS. It was not until a compelled interview in November 2015 that Miss Parry admitted her misconduct.

Parry ceased to be authorised in November 2015 and has ceased trading. She provided verifiable evidence of serious financial hardship, and avoided a harsher financial penalty of £157,395 plus interest.

Mark Steward, Director of Enforcement and Market Oversight at the FCA, said: “We raised the minimum qualification standards in order to protect consumers from financial harm, and Miss Parry’s behaviour demonstrates a clear disregard of those standards and her duty to be honest with the FCA. We will not tolerate this sort of behaviour.

"The FCA considers that Miss Parry’s behaviour amounted to a failure to act with integrity, and that she poses a risk to consumers and to the integrity of the financial system. The FCA has therefore prohibited Miss Parry from performing any function in relation to any regulated activity."