FCA bans adviser for UCIS recommendations to low income clients

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has banned and fined a financial adviser for making unsuitable recommendations of high-risk and often unregulated investments.

Paul Reynolds has been fined £290,344 and banned him from performing any function in relation to regulated activities on the basis that he is not fit and proper because he lacks integrity. The regulator found that, between 2005 and 2010, while he was an approved person at Aspire Personal Finance, Reynolds recommended a number of complex and high risk products to his clients, many of whom were on low incomes and had little or no investment experience. It said Reynolds was aware he could not justify the suitability of these products for his clients. In some cases, Reynolds' clients w...