Campbell & Associates Independent Financial Advice Ltd (FRN: 602550) has been placed under investigation by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, after its sole director was charged with a £2.3m against involving clients.

The FSCS said today that it was probing the Romsey, Hampshire-based firm to see if any claims met the qualifying conditions for compensation.

It has not yet declared the firm as in default.

Earlier this year the FCA charged Lisa Campbell, sole director of Campbell & Associates, with fraud offences relating to the alleged misappropriation of client funds on numerous occasions between 1 April 2013 and 10 May 2023

The FCA charged Mrs Lisa Campbell with multiple criminal offences, including fraud by abuse of position and providing false or misleading information to the FCA to conceal her wrongdoing.

The FCA said in charges against her earlier this year it believed that over a a 10 year period Mrs Campbell stole more than £2.3m, leading to significant financial losses for multiple victims, including family members, friends and a vulnerable child. 

In February Mrs Campbell was released on bail and was due to appear at Portsmouth Magistrates Court this month. 

Mrs Campbell was the sole director of Campbell & Associates Independent Financial Advice Ltd (Campbell & Associates), an FCA authorised financial advisory firm which operated under the name Campbell & Raffle Independent Financial Advice Ltd until November 2020. The firm provided financial advice on investments, insurance and pensions, but was not authorised to hold or control client money.

Mrs Campbell has been released on bail and will appear at Portsmouth Magistrates Court on 17 April 2025.

The FSCS has been working with the FCA and opened its online claims service to claims against the firm today (Monday) but said: “Although we are accepting claims against Campbell & Associates, they will not be immediately passed to our claims processing teams for assessment. This is because we're still investigating the firm to see if any claims meet the qualifying conditions for compensation, and this may take some time.”

According to the FCA Register, Campbell & Associates was registered in October 2013 by IFAs Lisa Campbell and Nicola Raffle. It was known as Campbell & Raffle Independent Financial Advice Ltd from February 2014 until November 2020 when Ms Raffle resigned, according to records at Companies House.

It registered the name Campbell & Associates Independent Financial Advice Ltd in November 2020 and began trading as Campbell & Associates in May 2021.

The firm had a range of restrictions placed upon it by the FCA in February 2023, including being instructed to, “immediately cease carrying on all regulated activities for which it has a Part 4A permission.”

In May 2023 notice was given that the firm would be struck off the Register of Companies but the striking off action was quickly discontinued as: “Cause has been shown why the company should not be struck off the Register.”

In November 2023 new notice was given that the firm would be struck off the Register of Companies, but that was temporarily suspended in December 2023 because of an objection. That notice to strike off remains active, according to the records.