The Upper Tribunal has upheld decisions by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to ban two former advisers from working in financial services.

Stephen Burdett and James Goodchild previously held senior roles at Synergy Wealth (Synergy) and Westbury Private Clients LLP (Westbury), respectively.

The FCA banned the pair from working in regulated financial services for recklessly exposing pension holders to unsuitable investments. The Tribunal also found that it was appropriate for the FCA to impose penalties of £265,071 on Burdett and £47,600 on Goodchild.

As a result of Burdett, 232 personal pension funds worth over £10m were switched into high-risk investment portfolios. These portfolios were created and managed by Goodchild at Westbury, with around 38% of overall holdings linked to a single offshore property developer.

Despite his knowledge that the portfolios were high-risk, Burdett allowed Synergy’s customers to receive reports indicating that their money would be placed in low or medium risk portfolios. Goodchild included the misleading terms “cautious” and “balanced” in the names of two of the three high-risk portfolios.

The FCA intervened in 2016 to protect consumers, stopping the pensions business of Synergy and Westbury. Both firms subsequently went into liquidation and were dissolved.

Joint executive director of enforcement and market oversight at the FCA, Therese Chambers, said: “People trusted Mr Burdett and Mr Goodchild with their hard-earned savings and were badly let down. The pair worked together to switch customers' pensions into obviously unsuitable, high-risk investments.

“They made significant personal profits from their actions. We will not tolerate such conduct and are pleased that the Tribunal agrees.”

To date, the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) has paid out over £1.4m to victims.

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