The Capital Bridge joins Blackmore in disclosing 20% commissions

The Capital Bridge offers IFISA bonds paying 9% per year, previously reviewed here in October.

Recently, a statement has been added to the Risks page which reads

Up to twenty percent of your money will go towards paying for the cost of raising capital and the overheads of Capital Bridge and adds to the risk of capital not being returned.

The wording of the statement is identical to one that appeared on the website of Blackmore Bonds before it closed to new business. This is not surprising, as both Blackmore and Capital Bridge use the same FCA-authorised company to sign off their financial promotions, namely Northern Provident Investments Limited.

This statement was briefly on Capital Bridge’s home page, and its “IFISA” page, but Capital Bridge has apparently thought twice about that, as it has recently been moved to the Risks page.

How much Capital Bridge has actually paid to the websites which promote its bonds is, unlike with Blackmore, unknown. (Blackmore Bonds disclosed how much it actually paid its introducers in their annual accounts filed with Companies House, but Capital Bridge is too new to have filed accounts.)

Capital Bridge is currently being promoted by top-isa-rates.co.uk, a company run by the Surge group of companies, which has come under both regulatory and media scrutiny due to the role it played in promoting London Capital & Finance. Capital Bridge appears on the top of a list of capital-at-risk investments, with a “Sponsored” label.

Capital Bridge was previously promoted by bestisarate.co.uk which misleadingly compared its bonds with FSCS-guaranteed deposit accounts. (Bestisarate.co.uk is, I believe, not a Surge company. Its ownership is now unknown as the website has been blanked, and the domain was anonymously registered.)

Capital Bridge itself has no connection with London Capital & Finance and so far as we know has paid all interest and capital on time – as you would expect given its young age.

The disclosure that up to 20% of investors’ money will pay for the cost of raising capital and other overheads is difficult to reconcile with a paragraph in Capital Bridge’s literature from October which states “No set up costs, management fees or charges”. If the cost of finding investors isn’t a set up cost I don’t know what is.