Pensions adviser and overseer face enforcement after ignoring consultant's admonition

The FCA has issued provisional fines and bans on two individuals nine years after an external compliance consultant warned them that the business model they relied upon did not meet regulatory requirements.

By Neasa MacErlean

Both Heather Dunne, a pension transfer specialist, and Richard Fenech, sole director of Financial Solutions Midhurst Ltd of Chichester, are appealing the decisions to the Upper Tribunal - which could reverse the Financial Conduct Authority's decisions. If this does not happen then Ms Dunne would face a fine of £399,817, a sum which has been reduced by more than £95,000 because she was able to show that it "would cause her serious financial hardship". Mr Fenech would need to pay £270,646. Both Financial Solutions Midhurst and a business she ran separately, HDIFA, are now in liquidation.