The Financial Services Compensation Scheme faces a payout of up to £124m after declaring collapsed SIPP and SSAS firm Rowanmoor as failed.

The declaration of failure opens the FSCS doors to compensation claims being paid to ex-Rowanmoor clients.

The FSCS says it has so far received 1,464 claims related to Rowanmoor - each subject to a maximum compensation payout of up to £85,000.

If each claim is awarded the maximum compensation payout the bill for existing claims would top £124m.

The FSCS says it is unable yet to put a figure on the total cost of claims and is still assessing costs.

Rowanmoor went into administration in the summer of 2022 after a string of complaints to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

Sipp and SSAS firm Alltrust acquired Rowanmoor Personal Pensions Limited (RPPL) in December 2022.

RPPL, a major SIPP and SSAS provider, administered 4,000 SIPPs and 800 Family Pension Trusts with a total investment value of £1.5bn.

Rowanmoor Personal Pensions was previously part of Embark Group but was floated off as a standalone business last year when Lloyds Banking Group bought the Embark business for £390m.

The Financial Services Compensation Scheme has been investigating RPPL for most of this year.

The FSCS confirmed last year that it had already paid out on claims against failed IFAs who "misadvised" clients in relation to their Rowanmoor SIPP.

Many of the cases covered the due diligence applied by Rowanmoor on investment sales by a regulated advice firm and an appointed rep working with the company. The advice firms sold investments in a Cape Verde-based group to be included in clients' SIPPs.

According to previous FCA statements, RPPL received a number of complaints about, "historic, high-risk non-standard assets" and for not carrying out "adequate" due diligence before accepting these assets into customers’ SIPPs. 

• In a separate deal, SSAS firm WBR Group acquired the employees, clients and assets of Rowanmoor Executive Pensions Limited’s (REPL) book of 3,500 small self-administered schemes (SSAS), for an undisclosed sum.