Serious Fraud office investigating London Capital & Finance.
3rd April 2019.
The Serious Fraud Office has opened an investigation into individuals associated with London Capital & Finance after the firm’s administrators reported finding evidence of “highly suspicious” activity in the handling of investors’ funding.
Administrators for the company, which folded in January, found a number of “highly suspicious transactions” between a “small group of connected people” in the company’s records, with several individuals personally benefiting from investor money that was put into their personal possession. Four men were arrested on charges relating to the collapse last month, with all four since having been released pending further investigation.
The firm, which marketed itself as a low-risk ISA and promised investment returns of up to 8% over three years, did not in fact qualify as an ISA and only invested money in 12 companies, most of which were controlled by the fund’s administrators, instead of spreading investment across hundreds of independent companies as promised. In addition, a quarter of all money invested was paid into the firm’s marketing company Surge.
Compensation unlikely for investors
12,000 people invested more than £236m into the firm ahead of its collapse in January, with many retirees and first-time investors attracted to the scheme. In March however, Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) chief executive Mark Neal intimated that there were likely “no grounds” for compensating those that had invested because the ‘mini-bonds’ sold by the company are not in fact regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
The FSCS head explained that the company was regulated “for the purposes of giving [financial] advice but not for the purposes of selling the bonds,” meaning that “the bonds themselves were not regulated products.”
Collapse exposes regulatory loophole
The news that investors are unlikely to be compensated for their losses has led to criticism and concern over regulatory authorisation being misleadingly granted to firms that can then sell unregulated products unsecured by the FCA. Following the case, the Treasury and the FCA have pledged a review into whether the sale of mini-bonds should be regulated.
Because they are unregulated, mini-bonds provide investors with less security than listed retail bonds. Issuers are not required to put out a prospectus, meaning that customers can invest without being given much information on where there money will go.
Have you had problems with bad actors?
The Credit Protection Association can help!
Formed in 1914, CPA has been providing credit management services to SMEs for over 100 years.
At the Credit Protection Association, we provide first class credit information that can help you avoid being over extended to customers whre suspicious activity has been spotted. Our monitoring service can flag up warning signs long before the end, giving you the chance to adjust and reduce your exposure. We provide recommended credit limits and credit scores on a traffic light system and can help you set appropriate credit policies for your customers.
We regularly publish lists of the latest insolvencies but by then it is too late. Our credit reports however predict approximately 96% of company insolvencies long before they arrive.
Companies in trouble usually have very bad bad cash flow and they try to deal with it by delaying payment to their suppliers, increasing your exposure to them.
If you supply to businesses on credit help us help you identify the risks.
Why use a third party collector?
As a third party collector, we can also get your payments prioritised over those who are not as hot on collections. When you customer receives a letter from the Credit Protection Association regarding their outstanding account, they are going to want to get that resolved as a priority. Our overdue account recovery service can get your unpaid invoices to the top of their “to do” list and get your invoice paid.
Over the years we have collected billions in overdue invoices for our customers.
Our debt recovery and credit management services give our members the financial freedom needed to grow and prosper, while our new Late Payment Compensation department could unlock hidden potential and offer the compensation needed to springboard your business to success.
Do you realise you may have hidden capital tied up in your business?
If you are short on funds, don’t turn to fraud.
Do you realise you may have a completely legal hidden source of capital within your business waiting to be activated?
If you trade with other businesses and were often paid late then you could be entitled to significant compensation.
Under little known and underused legislation your business could be due huge amounts in compensation that you didn’t even know about.
That compensation could be the cash injection your business needed.
How can CPA help?
CPA has developed a unique technology to dig into your accounting records and discover the cash injection you are due by means of compensation. The software does all the hardwork. Our software interacts over the cloud with over 300 different software packages, working directly with your accounts package, just so long as it’s stored on a computer.
The Credit Protection Association plc (established 1914) has spent 3 years researching the accounting, technical and legal implications of Late Payment Legislation and our staff and retained solicitors probably have as much working knowledge of this legislation as could be found anywhere.
We recognise that most companies do not have the resources to spend time on the identification and calculation of Late Payment Compensation. Our service can produce an Analyses within just a few days with (usually) less than 30 mins of co-operation from our clients. We work directly with over 300 accounting packages but can also work with bespoke accounts packages. Indeed, speed is essential as the oldest invoices may fall foul of the 6-year time limit.
Once the Sales Ledger Analyses is made available to clients, all that is required is that management decide which commercially sensitive ex-customers to remove from the list and return it to us.
CPA then uses its years of collection experience to explain and recover the Late Payment Compensation Claims. Clients do not handle any part of the recovery process as our team will take all communications from the companies against who the claims has been made. Often, it’s simply a case of explaining the legislation, sometimes we have to go all the way and enforce the legislation through the courts.
The result is that we are realising clients’ claims worth tens and sometimes hundreds of thousands of pounds which, of course, is pure net profit. You may also be among the recipients of “hundreds of thousands of pounds” should you elect to take advantage of our services.
We do the work, you receive the cash.
If you have supplied goods and services to businesses on credit and were regularly paid late then you could be due significant sums in late payment compensation.
We are talking to companies and unearthing claims in the hundreds of thousands from former business customers who paid them late. Large business customers who abused their power to inflict unfair and sometimes illegal payment practices.
We are helping companies that were looking to close down, who looked insolvent and finding that cash injection they need to avoid insolvency.
CPA is passionate about late payment
The Credit Protection Association has been protecting smaller firms against poor payment practices for over 100 years.
We are passionate about breaking the late payment culture that holds back the UK economy and threatens many SMEs with cash flow difficulties being the single biggest killer of Britain’s small businesses.
If you were regularly paid late we can help. Those former customers used you to boost their own cash-flow, regularly paying you late.
As a result you had extra costs, you had the distraction of having to chase payment, you had opportunity costs because your capital was tied up in their late invoices.
Under little used legislation, you are entitled to compensation for those late payments.
Now you can boost your own cash-flow.
CPA can help unearth the those hidden treasures.
We have the technology to reveal the compensation you are due and we have the extensive experience and expertise to then turn those claims into cash.
Yes, CPA can help you boost your business cashflow.
Don’t let your bankers control you, contact CPA today.
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The Credit Protection Association is a credit management company established in 1914. If you supply goods or services on credit then we can help you!
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