Pension adviser banned after clients lose £7m

A Wolverhampton financial adviser has been banned for eight years after his firm provided poor pension investment advice resulting in clients losing £7 million.

Related topics:  Finance News
Rozi Jones
1st April 2020
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"The Wolverhampton director, however, totally disregarded his clients’ interest and caused substantial losses when he invested £8 million in unsuitable products."

Gerard Blakemore was the sole director of Blakemore Wealth Management and the company was authorised to provide investment advice around Self Invested Personal Pensions schemes.

Between April 2012 and October 2018 the company invested funds on behalf of 34 clients.

The company, however, entered into creditors voluntary liquidation in October 2018, which was brought to the attention of the Insolvency Service due to the substantial losses Blakemore Wealth Management caused its clients.

Following further enquiries, investigators uncovered that Blakemore, an authorised financial adviser, had caused Blakemore Wealth Management to invest customers’ funds in high-risk schemes without carrying out adequate enquiries about their suitability.

Blakemore Wealth Management invested £8.3 million of client funds without their knowledge in an unregulated overseas company.

Of the money invested, only £607,500 was repaid to Blakemore Wealth Management’s clients and investigators uncovered that Blakemore was a director of the overseas company.

Further enquiries proved that Blakemore had personally benefited from these unsuitable investments and at no point disclosed the payments to his clients or seek their agreement.

He paid himself more than £247,000 through remuneration, dividends and benefits via commissions the company received.

Gerard Blakemore also caused the company to transfer funds from client investments totalling around £2.1 million to another company registered overseas, of which he was a director and received £1.7 million.

Dave Elliott, chief investigator for the Insolvency Service, said: "Gerard Blakemore was entrusted with millions of pounds to invest in legitimate pension investment schemes. The Wolverhampton director, however, totally disregarded his clients’ interest and caused substantial losses when he invested £8 million in unsuitable products.

"Eight years is a significant ban and removing Gerard Blakemore from the corporate arena will protect investors from further harm due to his poor investment advice."

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