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Money Box

Mini-bond firm calls in administrators

Money Box

BBC

Business

4.2825 Ratings

🗓️ 2 February 2019

⏱️ 26 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

A firm which raised more than £200m from 14,000 investors has gone into administration. London Capital & Finance Plc (LCF) issued mini-bonds which promoted returns of 8 percent and higher. The Financial Conduct Authority was already investigating, last December it froze the assets of the firm. It also directed LCF to pull its "promotional material on the basis that the way in which it was marketing bonds was misleading, not fair and unclear." The FCA also expressed concerns that "LCF bonds were being marketed as ISA eligible when they were not." Guest: Finbarr O'Connell, one of the administrators of London Capital & Finance Plc.

Tougher fraud prevention measures have seen some websites asking online shoppers to verify their identities by entering a six digit number, sent to them by text, before the transaction can continue. What if you live somewhere without a mobile signal? Guest: James Daley, Managing Director and Founder, Fairer Finance.

We hear from the Money Box listener who's paying hundreds of pounds a year in fee charges for a SIPP investment that’s been valued at £1. Guest: Adam Samuel, financial services compliance specialist.

Child Trust Funds were set up for babies born between 1 September 2002 and 2 January 2011 to encourage regular, long-term saving habits. Families received starter vouchers of £250 or £500 to open fund accounts. If, after the first year, they hadn’t, HMRC did it and sent families details of their provider. In many of those cases families failed to contact providers and forgot about the accounts. The first wave of children are turning 16 when they can take control of managing accounts ahead of being able to make withdrawals at 18. How can a lost account be found? Guest: Carol Knight, Chief Operating Officer TISA.

Transcript

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0:46.4

Hello, in today's program, a firm selling investments has gone into administration, leaving 14,000 people unsure of what has happened to more than £200 million.

0:52.8

A new security measure by credit card providers mean you may need a mobile phone

0:57.7

and a good signal to shop online easily. One listener has a pension fund worth one pound, but the

1:03.9

firm running it charges him £835 a year, and is your teenager entitled to hundreds of pounds in a child trust fund you've

1:13.1

lost track of? But first, a firm with 14,000 investors who entrusted it with well over £200 million

1:20.0

of their money has been put into administration by its directors. We reported four weeks ago

1:25.7

that London Capital and Finance, or LCF, had its assets

1:29.5

frozen by the regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority. It was concerned about how the firm

1:34.3

promoted itself and that it offered ISAs when its assets were not suitable for that. John put

1:40.3

£36,000 from his wife's cash, ICER, into these bonds.

1:45.0

They'd hoped to get a better return.

1:47.3

So I look through ICS on the net,

1:50.9

and nearly every time LCF come out as one of the top-paying companies,

1:56.5

and it was well recommended.

...

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