Pension transfer specialist adviser Philip Pryke has been fined £1.4m by the FCA after his firm advised on 986 transfers, many of them not in the client’s best interests.

The FCA has also banned Mr Pryke (IRN: PXP00025) from carrying out any regulated activity indefinitely.

Mr Pryke's firm, Leeds-based C&I (FRN: 462885), arranged £200m worth of pension transfers with an average value of £200,000.

He used the £8m fee revenue from hundreds of pension transfers to fund a luxury lifestyle, the regulator said.

The FCA said Mr Pryke,“failed to act with integrity, paying scant regard to regulatory standards and requirements, choosing instead to prioritise the firm’s profitability (which took over £8 million in fees) over the interests of its customers, thereby enabling him to fund a luxurious lifestyle.”

Mr Pryke’s firm, C&I, was a financial adviser based in Leeds. He also had links to Leeds-based pension transfer adviser Gainsborough Financial Services (FRN: 145971) which was declared in default by the FSCS this week.

Mr Pryke acted as a CF30 (Customer) and qualified Pension Transfer Specialist (PTS) at C&I and gave advice, personally recommending 913 Pension Transfers.

The regulator said that Mr Pryke’s action were “reckless,” fining him £1.378m. He made personal recommendations despite having failed to obtain from customers adequate information on their financial situation.

Among numerous failing, he did not adequately assess customers’ attitudes to investment and transfer risk and approved Suitability Reports which failed to provide his customers with sufficient information from the transfer value analysis.

His firm also failed to adequately fact find customers details or maintain adequate customer files and business records.

C&I earned over £8.1 million in gross revenue from customers that it advised to make DB Pension Transfers. The watchdog said the revenue consisted entirely of “contingent initial fees” where fees were only paid when transfers went ahead.

C&I typically charged clients a £500 advice fee which was waived if the transfer went ahead.

In the 12 months from 1 October 2017 up to 30 September 2018, Pension Transfer advice comprised at least 76% of the firm’s revenue.

As of 20 September 2023, the FSCS had received 1,300 claims made by C&I customers who were advised on DB Pension Transfers and it upheld 766 of them against C&I, paying out over £42.5m in compensation to its customers.

The FCA said had it not been for the compensation limit of £85,000, the total compensation payable to customers would have been approximately £67m. Mr Pryke was identified as the PTS (pension transfer specialists) in 622 (81%) of those upheld claims. In 305 cases, the FSCS awarded the claimant the maximum compensation available of £85,000.

While some customers approached C&I directly, most of its Pension Transfer advice business was generated by two lead generation companies.

C&I went into liquidation in January 2020.