The Financial Conduct Authority has banned Steven Hodgson and Paul Adams of Stockton-on-Tees-based Vintage Investment Services from advising customers on pension transfers and opt-outs.

Explaining its decision, the watchdog said that the pair “poorly advised people to transfer out of their defined benefit pension schemes, including the British Steel Pension Scheme.”

The regulator added that the pair were also banned from holding any senior management function within a regulated firm.

The FCA said that Mr Hodgson and Mr Adams would pay £32,700 and £53,200, respectively, to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, the UK’s financial services lifeboat arrangement. It added that the amounts would contribute towards redress owed to Vintage customers.

Between January 2016 and December 2017, Vintage advised nearly all (97%) of its defined benefit pension clients to transfer out of their pension, with the bulk of those customers (98.8%) following that advice.

Some 165 people transferred out, including 93 members of the British Steel Pension Scheme.

The FCA said that the average completed transfer value per client was over £420,000 (£375,000 for British Steel members).

The regulator adjudicated that Mr Adams and Mr Hodgson were responsible for, “poor advice, two-thirds of which did not meet the required standards.”

Therese Chambers, FCA joint executive director of enforcement and market oversight, said: “People rely on good quality pensions advice to secure a comfortable requirement.

"Mr Adams and Mr Hodgson fell far short of this basic expectation, earning significant fees for themselves in the process. Their fees will go to the FSCS to offset the cost of their findings.”