FCA decides to ban and fine adviser £742,700 for unauthorised DB pension transfer advice
The FCA has decided to ban Daniel Thomas and fine him £742,700 for advising 53 clients on DB pension transfers without the required qualifications. Findings are provisional pending an Upper Tribunal hearing.
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Verdict: context, not panic — but a sharp reminder if anyone at your firm sits near the boundary of pension transfer permissions.
The FCA has decided to ban Daniel Thomas from financial services and fine him £742,700 for recklessly giving defined benefit (DB) pension transfer advice he was neither qualified nor permitted to give. A DB pension is a final-salary-style scheme that guarantees a retirement income; advice to transfer out of one carries strict qualification requirements precisely because the stakes for clients are so high.
Thomas was a director and financial adviser at DPT Financial Solutions Limited, an appointed representative of Quilter Financial Services Ltd, meaning it carried on regulated activity under Quilter's responsibility. Over five years, Thomas advised 53 clients on 63 transfers. The FCA believes he earned more than £173,000 in fees in the process.
The rules are unambiguous: advice on DB transfers must be provided or checked by a qualified Pension Transfer Specialist. Thomas did not hold those qualifications. He then compounded the breach by misleading clients and pension providers about his qualifications and providing misleading information to Quilter. He also destroyed client records and refused to co-operate with the FCA's investigation.
The penalty of £742,700 is structured in three parts: a base fine of £173,000 plus interest, representing the fees earned; an additional amount reflecting the seriousness of the misconduct, calculated as a percentage of his relevant income; and an uplift for non-cooperation with the investigation. The FCA has made no findings against Quilter in connection with this matter.
Some of Thomas's clients were members of the British Steel Pension Scheme, a group the FCA notes were in a particularly vulnerable position at the time. The FCA has previously taken enforcement action against a wide range of firms and individuals for misconduct involving advice given to consumers to transfer out of that scheme.
One important caveat: Thomas has referred the Decision Notice to the Upper Tribunal, where he will present his case. All findings remain provisional until the Tribunal decides. The FCA will take no action against him in the meantime.
If your DB transfer permissions and Pension Transfer Specialist sign-off arrangements are already sound, treat this as a prompt to double-check rather than a warning shot. If you are not sure they are, the conduct described here — unqualified advice, record destruction, misleading a principal firm — is the conduct the FCA found serious enough to warrant a ban and a substantial fine.
