A Spennymoor-based financial advisor and Durham County Councillor has sent his customers a “simple explanation” of events leading to an agreement to pay former clients over £100k in compensation.

Mark Abley, of County Capital Wealth Management Ltd (CCWM) - now in liquidation - has been banned by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) from providing advice on pension transfers after he advised 575 of his 595 customers, including 150 members of the British Steel Pension Scheme, to transfer out of their defined benefit pension schemes.

More than half of this advice (56 per cent) failed to meet the required standard, and showed a “lack of competence”, resulting in him giving unsuitable pension transfer advice, which put customer’s pensions at unnecessary risk against their best interest.

This week (July 10), Mr Abley wrote in an email to clients of his new business, Fathom Financial Ltd. The email, seen by The Northern Echo, outlines that although he had been “unable to counter articles publicly”, he wanted to “allay any concerns [clients] may have”.

Read our first story here.

Mr Abley explained the timeline of events, saying that June 2017 saw a visit from the FCA, where the company received a clean bill of health from the regulator as well as additional advice in relation to Defined Benefit Pension Transfers (DBTs).

Months later, CCWM was approached by an independent financial advisor to help with transfers from the British Steel Pension Fund.

Mr Abley wrote to his clients: “I was confident of our processes and procedures so agreed to help.

"The British Steel saga has rumbled on since then, generating significant headlines and much political interest.”

He added: “In February 2018, the FCA asked us to stop doing DBTs, however, they allowed our pipeline business to complete. The firm, in consultation with the FCA, regained its DBT permissions in July 2018. I believe the only firm involved with British Steel to do so.”

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But 16 months later, he says CCWM made the decision to cease giving DBT due to the difficulty of securing professional indemnity insurance, which defended against defamation and claims of negligence.

“Throughout this period I had an ongoing dialogue with the FCA," Mr Abley says in his letter.

"In May this year, following discussions with my lawyers ,I was effectively presented with three options: negotiate a settlement; challenge the FCA through their Regulatory Decisions Committee; challenge the FCA in the Upper Tribunal.

“I decided to negotiate a settlement to draw a line under the whole thing and move on after six years of dealing with the FCA. A case in the Upper Tribunal could have dragged on for a further four years and the costs would be significant."

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Mr Abley adds: “I have not been banned from giving advice, the ban relates only to DBTs. As I decided to withdraw from giving this advice in 2019, I didn’t see much point in challenging this aspect of the case.

“As many of you know I am a Conservative County Councillor in County Durham. The first ever from my hometown, Spennymoor. I believe that whoever sent the link from the FCA website had a political motive for doing so. I don’t know who it was and will never likely find out.”

Information pertaining to the FCA’s decision to ban Mark Abley from offering pension transfer advice, and the compensation he is required to pay, is publicly available on their website.