Check For FCA Accreditation Or Face The Consequences
Friday, 2. November 2018
Following the warnings from the BVRLA and myself, it is important to carry out a check to see if the company you are dealing with is properly authorised. If the company isn’t authorised the onus falls on your shoulders should fraud have been committed.
You cannot make a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) against a company that isn’t on the FCA register as authorised.
That is scary because it means if you’ve been scammed by an unauthorised firm – you’re stuffed!
You can check the FCA Register by clicking on the following link and inserting the company name. Try using ‘GHA Finance’ as an example.
Here is an extract from the FCA website:
If you deal with an unauthorised firm you will not be covered by the Financial Ombudsman Service(link is external) or Financial Services Compensation Scheme(link is external) (FSCS) if things go wrong.
Unfortunately there are firms that operate without our authorisation and some knowingly run scams like share fraud and other investment scams.
If a firm does not appear on the Register but claims it does, search for it in the list below and contact our Consumer Helpline on 0800 111 6768.
Beware of fraudsters pretending to be from a firm authorised by us, as it could be what we call a ‘clone firm‘. If you are cold-called by a financial services firm always ring them back on the switchboard number given on the Register.
We add firms to this list as soon as possible but it is not exhaustive. Do not assume a firm is legitimate just because it does not appear in this list – these firms frequently change their name and it may not have been reported to us yet.
You should take further steps to protect yourself from unauthorised firms and check our list of warnings from foreign regulators(link is external). You can also find out about share fraud and other investment scams.
Search for an unauthorised firm below or see the most recently added firms.
As you can see, not carrying out a quick check could leave you seriously out of pocket with no-one to turn to for help.
