Deadline extended for complaints about LCF supervision
The City watchdog has extended the deadline for London Capital & Finance (LCF) investors to submit complaints about its supervision of the collapsed mini-bond provider, while the complaints commissioner is still working on its report on FCA oversight of LCF.
The FCA has extended its standard 12 month-timeline for complaints so LCF investors have until 17 March, rather than 17 December, to raise a complaint about the regulator’s oversight of LCF, which entered into administration in January 2019.
Read more: P2P investors urge FCA to hire “very different” kind of chair
“In the case of LCF we would typically not investigate any complaints under the complaints scheme following 17 December 2021, given this point in time is 12 months from the date on which the Gloster Report was published,” the FCA said in an update on its website.
“However, given the exceptional circumstances surrounding LCF, individuals will continue to be able to make complaints to the FCA about our handling of LCF for a further three months, until 17 March 2022.
“We will continue to have the flexibility to investigate complaints raised after that time if the complainant can show reasonable grounds for delay, as per the terms of the complaints scheme.”
The Financial Regulators Complaints Commissioner (FRCC), which investigates complaints against organisations including the FCA, the Prudential Regulation Authority and the Payment Systems Regulator, said that if an LCF investor has not submitted a complaint yet, they should complain directly to the FCA.
The FRCC said if the complainant has received a decision from the FCA and remains dissatisfied with the FCA’s response, they can refer the complaint to the commissioner who will be able to look into it.
The FRCC also revealed that its final report on the FCA’s oversight of LCF – led by Complaints Commissioner Amerdeep Somal – will not be released yet.
Somal has previously criticised the City regulator over its handling of the LCF scandal and a draft version of her preliminary findings revealed the FCA tried to make changes to its complaints scheme “via the backdoor”.
The FRCC said it is continuing to work through the responses it received regarding the preliminary report and will publish the final report on its website when it is finished.
“As mentioned previously the commissioner will take subsequent comments and/or responses into consideration if she thinks it is appropriate to do so when finalising and publishing her final report,” the FRCC said in an update on its website.
“We know complainants have had to wait a considerable amount of time and we appreciate everyone’s patience during this time.”
The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) has already paid out £57.6m in redress to approximately 2,871 investors which it believes had bad advice but has stopped short of further payments.
Separately to this, the FSCS will administer a £120m Treasury compensation scheme that will give LCF investors 80 per cent of their money back, up to a maximum of £68,000.
