You might be eligible for compensation
FSCS is now considering customers’ claims against Wellington Court Financial Services Ltd (“Wellington Court”).
Wellington Court was incorporated in Ireland and passported into the UK under the Insurance Distribution Directive. They had a UK establishment in Devon which closed on 31 December 2021.
From 19 December 2016, Wellington Court had permission from the Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) to carry out certain regulated activities including advising on investments and pension transfers. Prior to this date, it only had permission to carry out insurance mediation and insurance distribution activities.
FSCS has been working with the FCA and the Financial Ombudsman Service (“FOS”) to investigate the activities of Wellington Court.
The FOS has upheld a large number of complaints against Wellington Court in respect of its involvement with the transfer of customers’ pensions into a self-invested personal pension (“SIPP”) administered by Guinness Mahon Trust Corporation Ltd (“GMTC”).
GMTC was declared in default by FSCS on 29 October 2020. However, where Wellington Court was involved in a customer’s transfer into the GMTC SIPP, FSCS has required customers to first exhaust their rights against Wellington Court via the FOS before FSCS is able to consider any claim against GMTC.
However, Wellington Court has failed to satisfy the FOS awards. The FCA has been notified of this failure.
The FSCS is now considering whether valid claims exist under its rules in connection with Wellington Court’s activities.
If you believe you received bad advice from Wellington Court to transfer pension benefits (defined benefits or personal pension etc) into a SIPP, you can make a claim against the firm to FSCS. Wellington Court may also have arranged the transfer rather than providing advice.
All claims will be considered on a case-by-case basis, to determine whether you are eligible for compensation or not.
As part of our investigations, FSCS will be considering if Wellington Court can meet claims made against it.
The latest news regarding our work on Wellington Court will appear on this page. We will update this page as our investigations progress. Customers should subscribe to this page to receive the latest updates.
Latest updates
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30 Mar, 2023
The investigation into Wellington Court Financial Services Ltd has now been completed. We've determined that valid claims may exist for eligible customers under our rules, as set for us by the FCA. Note that this depends on the particular facts of each claim.
All claims relating to this firm have been moved to our assessment teams for consideration.
Thank you for your patience while we carried out our investigation.
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07 Mar, 2023
FSCS’s investigation into the operation of Wellington Court remains on-going. We continue to work closely with third parties to get further evidence to help our investigation into whether valid claims exist against the firm.
We will provide further updates on this page when we have more information and confirm whether FSCS is able to protect claims under our rules for eligible customers.
Thank you for your patience while we continue with the firm investigation
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11 Nov, 2022
FSCS has been working closely with third parties to get further evidence to help our investigation into whether valid claims exist against Wellington Court. Our investigation is progressing and a further update will be available shortly.
We will provide further updates on this page and confirm in due course whether customers have valid claims.
Thank you for your patience while we continue with our investigation.