FSA secures High Court ruling against £11m land bank

If operations such as this are suposed to be authorised but are trading without the relevant authorisation, then I suppose it's reasonable for the FSA to go after them. But I don't see why I should have to pay towards it, as these are criminal matters which surely should be funded from central government.

The FSA is effectively just another part of the government (fsa.gov.uk) that draws its funding not from the populace as a whole but from just a very small part of it, namely us. Very, very unhealthy and unjust.

So right Julian. An open cheque book from IFAs. Look at the MAS funding. Double your fees and nothing you can do about it. This should have been funded out of general tax revenue.

I agree with Julian and Sam. This firm was committing a fraud against members of the general public, and it is difficult to why only FSA members should pick up the bill.

One can only hope that the FSA intends to reclaim any costs from the assets of those who benefited from the fraud.

This should have been dealt with solely by the police.

if you tell people that you have a gold mine and sweet-talk them into passing over their life savings, then hop off with the loot, you are commiting a serious fraud. Same difference.

On the otherhand if this chap was AUTHORISED and selling this particular "investment" then the FSA should be involved as well as the police.. But as he clearly isn't, so why are they poking into it.

A police matter.

In fact, looks like a straightforward real estate sale to me. caviat emptor.

"In 2008 the FSA first took High Court action against a land banking firm UK Land Investments Limited and most recently obtained a High Court winding-up order against Plott UK Limited, another land banking operation, on 8 June."

Strewth!!! lf the FSA has really known about the cowboy landbanking schemes since 2008, why are they still allowing them to spring up everywhere! Do they have to fleece a few pensioners of their life savings before the FSA can act?? What a shambles of regulator the FSA truly is. Also, l know for sure 1 x MP has contacted Mark Hoban about them and asked him why he is still allowing these "investments" to be put into SIPPs, Instead of stopping it, Hoban has referred the MP to a SIPP website that confirms property such as a land banking "investment" is perfectly eligible to be placed into a SIPP!!! The sooner Hoban and the FSA are consigned to the muckspreader of history, the sooner the public as a whole willl be better served.

Anitaki - Because there are a small number of firms who are authorised by the FSA and do put significant resources into liasing with developent agencies and promoting the land that they and their clients are invested in to local planning authorities.

I do agree with you though that allthough these can be viable alternative investments it's clear that they suit the more sophisticated investor who does not require liquidity.

I gues that it is worth distinguishing between the firms that only market themselves through IFAs who will be held responsible by their clients if not the FSA and those who are targetting vulnerable pensioners life savings through cold calling.

It is becoming less and less clear where the remit/responsibility of the FSA begins and ends - which is of particular concern to those doing the funding of their activities. Also, bearing in mind the financial constraints under which the police find themselves, the danger is that they will increasingly try and leave the FSA to pick up both the baton and the tab if there is the slightest hint of the crime involving finance/investment. So, if someone pays £40m for a Picasso as an investment only to discover it is a fake - will the FSA be billing us for that as well?

Kevin, the Picasso fake is a perfect example.

The FSA would be better off publicising that the public should not be contemplating LAND BANKS unless they have received advice to do so by a qualified, authorised and well-known firm of IFAs so at least there is a fair chance that it is kosher.

And never, ever, buy any financial product over the phone.

Me house has gone down in value! they said it would always go up in value..please can you have a look please FSA

Oh and me bloody car

Going off at a slight tangent, has anyone come across the "cash from pensions" currently being offered by "introducers"? The FSa has nothing on its website nor can it tell me if any investigations are being carried out. These schemes purport to provide upto 50% of the pension fund by way of loan to an individual irrespective of age. As always "too good to be true" comes to mind but investors suffer that nasty condition called greed!

KB

Run by a guy in spain

I suppose that the more the government poisons all things to do with pensions, the more people will be attracted to any strategy that enables them to bust their scheme open and get their money out without having to annuitise.

I had a client here in my office a couple of years almost foaming at the mouth and gnashing his teeth in anger and frustration at the restrictions with which his pension fund options are shackled. That's how more and more people feel about pensions these days and the government wonders why there's a savings gap ~ as if NEST's going to sort anything out. All that will do is lock away more money into the current rotten system. If public sector workers opt out from their occupational schemes in protest at having to pay more and wait longer, just what sort of un-enrolment rates can we expect from NEST? The whole damned world seems to be going crazy.

Looking at what investors have experienced on the pension front -

- massive fall in value due to stockmarket crash 2000-2003

- reduced returns due to dividend tax credit changes

- massive fall in value following 'credit crunch' & virtual collapse of banks

- extension of minimum benefits age from 50 to 55 and the consequent

suspicion of further extensions down the line

It amazes me that people are still saving via pensions at all.

'afternoon, Kevin. Not only are less and less people embarking on new retirement savings plans but more and more of those who've done so in the past are stopping their contributions and more and more of those reaching retirement are feeling very disappointed with what they're getting out after 20 years or more of diligent saving. Those people are hardly likely to recommend a pension plan to the next generation, are they?

In the run-up to the election, the conservative party promised it would sort pensions out, not least by undoing much of the damage inflicted on them by preceding administrations. But now it's in power, what has it done? Pressed ahead full speed towards NEST, restricted the maximum amount that people can put into their pension funds (unfairly penalising those who otherwise pay the highest income taxes and whose employers pay the most NIC), reduced the LTA and done nothing at all about the annuity trap. A pox on all of them.

income reduced from drawdown, ie 120% gad now 100%!

ex adviser has been making a killing with the pension busting guy in spain