Douglas Baillie Ltd & Fast Pensions Ltd

Under investigation 19 December 2016

FRN: 187675

You might be eligible for compensation

CHECK IF YOU CAN CLAIM

Fast Pensions Ltd and five other related companies were wound up at the High Court on 30 May 2018.

In July 2018 Dalriada Trustees Ltd was formally appointed by the Pensions Regulator to act as an independent trustee to 15 pension schemes linked to Fast Pensions Ltd.

FSCS understands that a number of consumers received advice from both FCA authorised and unauthorised financial advisers to transfer their existing pension arrangements into one of 15 schemes linked to Fast Pensions.

Some consumers received cold calls offering free pension reviews, while others were told that they could get a loan if they transferred their pension savings to one of the Fast Pensions' schemes.

In some cases, pension monies were invested into high-risk investments, some of which have become illiquid, which means they can’t currently be sold or traded.

See our investment compensation limits and their conditions on our Investments page.

British Steel Pension Scheme

Douglas Baillie Ltd is also one of the companies associated with claims regarding the British Steel Pension Scheme (BSPS). 

In 2017, many British Steel workers were advised to transfer out of their defined benefit pension into a defined contribution pension, known as a Personal Pension Plan or a Self-Invested Personal Pension (SIPP). 

By transferring to a private pension arrangement, they would have lost the guaranteed benefits already built up in the British Steel Pension Scheme. It may not have been realistic to achieve the same level of benefits from their new plan.

The advice they received may not have been the best advice for them.

If you think that this applies to you, download our compensation claim guide (pdf 0.1MB), and when you're ready, click the ‘Check if you can claim’ button.

The next step will be to answer a series of straightforward questions.

Should you need help, click on the ‘Need help’ button and choose to speak to one of our friendly claims handlers, or type a question into the FAQ option.

You don't need a claims company or a solicitor to make a claim with us, but if you're not good with forms, consider using a friend or family member as a personal representative.

  • 10 Nov, 2021

    Further one-to-one sessions for those who transferred out of the BSPS are to be held in Swansea and Scunthorpe this month and next.

    See our British Steel Pension Scheme page for more details and a link to the booking site.

  • 07 Sep, 2021

    September 2021 one-to-one events

    We are holding one-to-one sessions for those who transferred out of the BSPS.

    BOOK NOW

    You will be able to book appointments with us, the Financial Ombudsman Service, the Financial Conduct Authority and/or MoneyHelper. These will provide free, in-person and confidential help. You can find out more about what the advice process should have looked like, how to make a complaint or claim, and get answers to your pension questions.

    When: 28–30 September 2021, various timeslots will be available

    Where: Mercure Hotel, Phoenix Way, Llansamlet, Swansea, SA7 9EG

    Find out more and book sessions.

  • 07 Jan, 2020

    FSCS is suspending its investigation into Fast Pensions Ltd.

    For FSCS to consider claims:

    • the firm must have failed
    • customers must have first exhausted any right to claim against any connected firm still trading.

    Fast Pensions Ltd was not an FCA or PRA-authorised firm. But we’re aware that FCA-authorised advisers may have recommended transferring pensions or investments to Fast Pensions. You can check the status of your adviser on the FCA register.

    Unfortunately, we haven’t found any evidence to show that FCA-authorised or regulated firms were, or should have been, aware of Fast Pension’s actions regarding pension money. This means we can’t establish that these firms may owe customers a civil liability regarding transfers to Fast Pensions. The result is that we’re suspending our investigation into Fast Pensions Ltd.

    If your advisor was not FCA regulated when moving your occupational pension to Fast Pensions, FSCS can’t compensate you. This is because there is no FCA/PRA-regulated firm to make a claim against. But you may be able to make a claim directly to your previous pension provider. You'd be claiming against the quality of the checks they carried out when transferring your pension to Fast Pensions.

    If your advisor was FCA-authorised, is still trading, and you believe you were misadvised to transfer your existing pension or to invest through Fast Pensions, you need to complain to them first. If they reject your complaint, you can take it to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS).

    If your advisor was FCA-authorised, is no longer trading, and you believe you were misadvised to transfer your existing pension or to invest through Fast Pensions, you should submit a claim to us against your financial adviser. You’ll need evidence to show that the adviser was, or should have been, aware of Fast Pension’s actions regarding pension money.

    We may be able to restart our investigation if we receive this evidence against an FCA-authorised adviser.

    If you think you’ve got a claim, click the ‘Check you can claim’ button to start the process.

  • 29 Oct, 2019

    FSCS is still trying to discover if there are valid claims involving Fast Pensions Ltd and associated regulated independent financial advisors.

    As reported by the trustee Dalriada and the Insolvency Service, Fast Pensions and associated companies failed to keep or maintain adequate records. So, we’ve not yet been able to establish how investors became aware of Fast Pensions Ltd, or how their money was invested.

    We’re working with the trustee and other parties, to get documentation. This will help us decide if there are valid claims. In the meantime, please look at our previous update outlining where you should submit a claim. This will vary, depending on the status of the FCA-authorised adviser you dealt with.

  • 19 Aug, 2019

    To consider claims against a failed firm, FSCS must be satisfied that customers have first exhausted any right to claim against any connected firms that are still trading. Fast Pensions Ltd itself was not a Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)/Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA)-regulated firm, but FSCS understands that a number of FCA-authorised advisers may have recommended transfers of existing pensions or investments to Fast Pensions Ltd.  

    If you believe you were mis-advised by an FCA-authorised adviser that’s still trading to transfer your existing pension or to invest through Fast Pensions Limited, you need to complain to them first. If your adviser rejects your complaint, you can take your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). 

    If you believe you were mis-advised by an FCA-authorised adviser that’s no longer trading to transfer your existing pension into or invest through Fast Pensions Limited, you should submit a claim to FSCS against your financial adviser.

    If you didn’t deal with an FCA-authorised adviser when moving an occupational pension to Fast Pensions Ltd, FSCS is unlikely to be able to compensate you for any losses you’ve incurred. This is because there is unlikely to be a FCA/PRA-regulated firm to make a claim against. In this scenario, you may be able to make a claim directly to your previous pension provider in relation to the checks they carried out when transferring your pension to the firm.

    FSCS is accepting claims involving the firm, but any claims received will not immediately be passed to our claims processing teams for assessment. 

    Firstly, FSCS needs to establish whether there are protected claims involving Fast Pensions Ltd. For this to happen FSCS needs to know that independent financial advisers (IFAs) owe a civil liability to customers in respect of transfers to Fast Pensions Ltd.

    FSCS has been in contact with Cheshire Police to obtain further information to help with our investigation into the practices of Fast Pensions Ltdand associated IFAs. We are specifically trying to establish how investors became aware of Fast Pensions Ltd and how customers’ money was invested.

  • 25 Jun, 2019

    FSCS is accepting claims against failed FCA authorised financial advisers, including Douglas Baillie Ltd, who gave advice to customers to transfer their pensions into one of the 15 schemes linked to Fast Pensions.

    However, claims have not yet been passed to our claims teams for assessment. Firstly we need to establish whether there are protected claims against these financial advisers. For this to happen we need to know that the financial advisers who gave the advice owe a civil liability to customers that would enable them to be sued in court.

    FSCS has been working with the independent trustee, Dalriada, and other parties in order to obtain firm records and other documentation that will help us to reach a view on whether there are protected claims.

FSCS

Contact us by phone on the number below, or via the contact form on the Contact us page.