The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has banned Nigel Lewis and Susan Jones of West Wales Financial Services (WWFS), which is in liquidation, from advising customers on pension transfers and pension opt outs.

Lewis has also been banned from holding any senior management functions in a regulated firm.

Between March and December 2017, WWFS provided unsuitable pension transfer advice based on the incorrect assumption that it would be in their customers’ best interests to transfer out of their secure defined benefit (DB) pension.

Jones advised 27 of 28 customers to transfer out of their DB pension scheme, 25 of whom were members of the British Steel Pension Scheme (BSPS).

In total, almost £9.8m of pension funds were transferred to riskier defined contribution schemes.

As part of his oversight role, Lewis was responsible for ensuring that WWFS provided suitable advice and to take reasonable steps to ensure advice was suitable, failing to do so.

The FCA had to intervene and stop WWFS from processing transfers for a further 141 customers, all of whom were members of the BSPS. Without this intervention, the FCA said, the risk of loss would have continued and these customers may have transferred out funds totalling £43.7m.

Alongside their respective bans, Lewis and Jones will also pay £26,800 and £40,888 respectively to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme to contribute towards the compensation owed to WWFS customers.

Joint executive director of enforcement and market oversight at the FCA, Therese Chambers, said: "Lewis and Jones performed a double act of carelessness and incompetence that put people’s hard-earned pensions at risk.

"They would have continued to provide bad advice to many more had it not been for the FCA’s timely intervention. People need someone they can trust to give them informed advice on their financial future - and it’s not these two."

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