Arch directors hit back at FSA ban and fine plans

Arch Financial Products (AFP), Robin Farrell, AFP's chief executive, and Robert Addison, a senior partner and former compliance officer at AFP, have hit back at attempts by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) to ban them from working in financial services and fine them £850,000.

The FSA has today issued a decision notice against the three parties in which it censures them for being "reckless" in failing to manage conflicts of interest with the Arch cru fund range, and for investing the funds in highly illiquid assets without ensuring a proportionate spread of risk. In a joint statement from Farrell, Addison and AFP, they dismiss the FSA's criticisms as "wrong", and claim the FSA "does not understand the structure" of the Arch cru fund range, and has approached the investigation "with a predetermined view as to alleged fault". "We fundamentally disagree with e...