FCA imposes first ever recruitment ban on network Financial

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has used its suspension power for the first time to ban two of the Financial group's subsidiaries, network Financial and separate firm Investments, from recruiting new appointed representatives (ARs).

The FCA's ban means the two subsidiaries cannot hire new ARs or individual advisers for a period of four and a half months. It has acted after finding the firms failed to ensure their ARs and individual advisers were adequately supervised and controlled to minimise the risk of mis-selling and the provision of unsuitable advice to consumers. Were it not for the firms' financial position, the FCA would have imposed a penalty of £12.5m on network Financial and £621,583 on Investments. Networks play an important role in financial services and it is critical that they have access to qua...