The FSA released the warning about the company, called The QROPS Specialist (no connection to Thailand based QROPSSpecialists.com), late last week but provided very little explanation as to why it had done so.
John Vermunt, who founded the company at the beginning of this year, said correspondence he received from the regulator made a number of inaccurate claims about what his company did, including that it was offering advice.
Speaking to International Adviser Vermunt said: “We received notification from the FSA last week that this had happened. We do not advise on pensions – we are just a marketing company, we generate leads which are then passed on to regulated financial investment or pension transfer companies which deal with our clients.
“I do not really know why the FSA is concerned with us. In correspondence, for example, it says we have contacted members of the public in the UK – we do not do any direct marketing at all – so this is a blatant lie. It also says we advise on investments – again this is untrue, we pass all of our leads on to regulated investment companies.”
Vermunt did concede however, that the wording on the company’s website (available here) may be a source of confusion. On the homepage it says: “Qualified financial advisers will answer questions that you may have, explain every step and do the necessary paper work on your behalf.
“You can be sure that we will give you clear and straight forward facts, based on the guidance by HMRC. This is proven to be a success as 68% of new clients are referred to us by old and present clients.”
There is however, a disclaimer at the bottom of the website which explains that the company does not offer advice and is not regulated to do so.
Vermunt added: “We are going to make some changes to the wording of the website to avoid any confusion in the future.”
