As the FT notes this morning:
Large financial groups were ordered to shell out more than £160m in compensation to customers in 2011 as the UK Financial Services Authority cracked down on mistreatment of retail investors by some of the UK's best-known firms.
The compensation payments dwarfed the £55.7m in corporate fines imposed last year by the City watchdog on firms including HSBC, Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland
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Those UK “retail investors” who have found justice and compensation via the UK Financial Services Authority (FSA) should be thankful that their “mistreatment” regarding financial services and products did not occur on the Isle of Man, Guernsey or Jersey.
In these jurisdictions the word “regulation” is a huge charade and part of an elaborate window dressing sham to lure naïve (often elderly) people into transferring their life savings to these obnoxious islands.
BE WARNED: These secretive islands have no effective regulation of financial products; there is no freedom of information and there is no competent authority to complain to when things go wrong. For example the Isle of Man the Financial Supervision Commission (FC) has no remit to investigate unfair trading or provide any consumer protection services.
All activities are centred on providing secrecy and concealment for the companies, lawyers and accountants engaged in protecting the three islands huge tax dodging industries. To deposit or invest money here is to enter a black hole of fraudulence and treachery.
BE SENSIBLE: Don’t trust the Crown Dependencies with a single penny.
Why indeed, and who got sent to jail for their misdeeds in this context? No-one. Again, why?
I suspect the lure of post ministerial directorships prevents the government from taking any meaningful action against the banks.
Yet more private sector failure. Piled on top of that sector’s pensions’ debacle and the swindling of Christmas hamper savers by liquidators.
This is to say nothing of the rigging of the markets for comsumer goods, travel and financial services.
Why is no one on the Labour side willing to stand up and charge the private sector with wholesale failure?
Not only are the financial penalties for malpractice derisory but none of them will face prosecution for the more questionable ways of going about their business. In short they are going to get away with it. Rather like the copper thieves being fined far less than the value of the copper they have stolen.
It is essential for those who, for whatever reason, are foolish enough to consider depositing or investing money on the Isle of Man to first acquire an IOM FINANCIAL DICTIONARY.
Here they will read/learn that:-
Telling the Truth = Telling Lies
Low Risk = High Risk
Professional Financial Advisor = Incompetent Unqualified Amateur
Quarterly Income = No income
Capital Security/Guarantees = Loss of all Capital
Capital Growth = Capital Loss
No Exit Charge = Punitive exit penalty unlimited in amount and duration
Experienced Professional Investor — Retired plumber with no investment experience
Regulation = No controls
Justice = Blatant discrimination
Compensation = You must be joking!
Isle of Man = No Go Area
Unfortunately for the thousands of people (often pensioners) who lose their life savings this Dictionary is only made available to them AFTER the island has filched all their money. Similar Dictionaries are in use on Jersey and Guernsey.
In fairness, my experience has only been with the High St Banks & , yes, they are useless, but I’m not sure how re;levant that is to their “trading arms”
My experience of the High St branches is that twice in the last 3 years they’ve agreed to pay me relatively large hand-outs, having utterly failed to do what was required. Since interest payments are virtually nil anyway, the hand-outs are welcome, but I don’t understand what was so difficult !
They haven’t agreed to pay any compensation, & the Banking Ombusman agrred with them, for what I considered the most appalling failure;
ringing me up & saying “hello, are you Mr P%%%%%% ?”
“yes”
“Can I take you through some security questions ?”
“No, you rang me up. Give me your office number & I’ll ring you back”
“sorry, these are outgoing lines only”
“So, you ring me & then expect me to divulge all my security details ? Can you see a problem with that ?”
“Err, yes, but its what the bank requires”
“OK, well, goodnight”
Also,let’s not forget many are aggressive loonies with no social conscience whatsoever – or so it says here corporate psychopaths at helm of financial institutions.
Anyone here surprised? No, me neither 🙂