The FCA published a warning on 1 April about how some firms are promoting Innovative Finance ISAs (IFISAs). The FCA has seen evidence that IFISAs are being promoted alongside cash ISAs.
This is problematic because investments held in IFISAs are generally high-risk. The money is ultimately invested in products like mini-bonds or peer-to-peer investments.
In addition, these types of investments may not be protected by the Financial Service Compensation Scheme so customers may lose the money invested or find it hard to get it back because of liquidity issues.
AR survey
Michael Senior Compliance 2021, complaints, Conduct, email, EU, FCA, scam, Xplan
The FCA is requesting completion of a survey from firms with Appointed Representatives (ARs). Where applicable, firms may already have received this. Given the risk of scams, the FCA now takes care to pre-warn firms that a communication is genuine. We have had confirmation that the following survey and email addresses used are legitimate. […]