On 13 October, the Court appointed Andrew Poxon, Alex Cadwallader and Hilary Pascoe of Leonard Curtis as Joint Special Administrators of Blankstone Sington Ltd following an application by the FCA.

Following the failure the FSCS said that while it is not yet open to customer claims against Blankstone, it will be investigating whether there are any claims eligible for compensation.

A spokesperson for the FSCS said the compensation body was working closely with the administrators as it expects to pay compensation in order to transfer clients’ money and assets to new brokers.

Blankstone Sington operated since 1976, according to the company’s website, offering investment management, model portfolio services, inheritance tax services and stockbroking.

The firm also offered services relating to Sipps, estate administration, personal and trust taxation services and ISA advice.

It received FCA authorisation in 2001, according to the FCA’s register. It was authorised to do pension and investment work. It was also a member of the Stock Exchange.

On 16 November 2021, the FCA took temporary action to prevent BSL from disposing or diminishing the value of its own assets, accepting new client money or new custody assets from existing clients and from opening new client accounts, without the written consent of the regulator.

According to the administrators, Blankstone agreed to enter voluntary requirements in November 2021 because of the loss of several experienced staff who could not easily be replaced. It meant the firm could not take on any new clients.

The directors subsequently tried to find a buyer for the company and received four offers. It entered into a three-month exclusivity agreement with one party to progress a sale in 2023 but that fell through.