The Financial Conduct Authority announced that the Upper Tribunal has upheld its decisions to ban Stephen Joseph Burdett and James Paul Goodchild from working in regulated financial services, and confirmed financial penalties of GBP 265,071 and GBP 47,600 for conduct that recklessly exposed pension holders to unsuitable high-risk investments. Mr Burdett, a former senior figure at Synergy Wealth Limited, was found to have enabled 232 personal pension funds worth over GBP 10 million to be switched into high-risk investment portfolios that were “obviously unsuitable”. The portfolios were created and managed by Mr Goodchild at Westbury Private Clients LLP, with around 38% of overall holdings linked to a single offshore property developer, and the Tribunal criticised the level of concentration and the inadequacy of due diligence. Despite knowing the portfolios were high-risk, Mr Burdett allowed customers to receive reports indicating their money would be placed in low or medium risk portfolios, while Mr Goodchild used the terms "cautious" and "balanced" in the names of two of the three high-risk portfolios. The Tribunal also upheld findings that Mr Burdett acted as a director without the required FCA approval and failed to co-operate with the FCA’s investigation; it reduced his penalty from GBP 311,762 after accepting evidence of tax paid on the financial benefit received. The FCA noted it intervened in 2016 to stop the pensions business of Synergy and Westbury, both of which later entered liquidation and were dissolved, and that the Financial Services Compensation Scheme has paid out over GBP 1.4 million to victims.

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