The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) has received 733 claims against Berkeley Burke Sipp Administration Limited (BBSAL).

The body is accepting claims but they will not immediately be passed to its claims processing teams for assessment.

FSCS says first needs “to establish if there are protected claims and if BBSAL owes a civil liability to its customers”.

A spokesman said: “At this early stage of our investigations we cannot say how much we expect to pay in compensation.

“The Financial Ombudsman Service is in the process of transferring claims they have against BBSAL to FSCS.
 
“FSCS is aware that independent financial advisers recommended many Berkeley Burke SIPP Administration Ltd customers to transfer their existing pensions into a Berkeley Burke SIPP.

“And that after the transfer, customers had their pension funds placed in high-risk, non-standard investments.

“Some of these have since become illiquid, which means they can’t currently be sold or traded.”
 
FSCS has to date paid out £54m for approximately 1,400 claims against IFAs in relation to advice customers received to transfer their pension into a Berkeley Burke SIPP.