London Capital & Finance’s marketing agent dragged into extended warranty “consumer fraud” lawsuit

July 3, 2019July 3, 2019 ~ Brev ~ 2 Comments

In September 2018 Domestic & General Insurance PLC sued Service Box Group Limited, accusing it of poaching its customers by ringing them up and lying to them that D&G had gone out of business or that their insurance had expired, and encouraging them to take out new policies with Service Box.

Since September 2017, Service Box Group Limited has been owned by Surge Group plc and its CEO Paul Careless.

Also part of Surge Group is Surge Financial, the company that ran London Capital & Finance's marketing and received £60 million in commission in return.

D&G has now sought to drag Surge Group, Paul Careless, and three other Surge directors and shareholders into its lawsuit against Service Box.

High Street Commercial Finance finally files accounts for 2017

July 2, 2019June 27, 2019 ~ Brev ~ 10 Comments

High Street Commercial Finance, which has issued a series of bonds to the public via unregulated introducers, has finally filed its accounts for December 2017, nine months overdue.

High Street Commercial Finance Limited is the arm of the High Street Group which borrows money from investors.

FSCS confirms that it will consider claims against LCF for providing advice, again

June 28, 2019 ~ Brev ~ 5 Comments

The Financial Services Compensation Scheme announced today that some London Capital & Finance investors may have claims which will be covered by the FSCS.

The FSCS has stated:

Following an extensive review of LCF’S business practices, we believe that Surge Financial Ltd, acting on behalf of LCF, provided a number of LCF clients with misleading advice. As this is a regulated activity, it means that FSCS protection would be triggered and that there may therefore be a number of customers with eligible claims for compensation.

MoneyDashboard and WeSwap join other fintech firms in tapping up their customer list for investment

June 27, 2019June 26, 2019 ~ Brev ~ 1 Comment

A few weeks ago I commented on the case of Nutmeg, which contacted its customer base to encourage them to invest in Nutmeg itself via crowdfunding platform CrowdCube.

Given that Nutmeg offers medium-risk fund solutions to inexperienced investors (more experienced investors would generally prefer a cheaper DIY platform), it is doubtful how much intersection there is between its customer base and wealthy, highly risk-seeking individuals for whom venture capital investment in loss-making startups is a suitable investment.

Nutmeg was the third fintech firm by my count to do so, following challenger bank Monzo and savings app Chip.

With the Financial Conduct Authority apparently happy for fintech firms to tap up their customer bases for investment, two more firms have joined the party in recent weeks, namely MoneyDashboard (an "open banking" service which displays all of your savings and debts in one place) and WeSwap (a currency exchange service).

FCA head wrings hands over London Capital and Finance

June 26, 2019June 26, 2019 ~ Brev ~ 2 Comments

In a much anticipated showdown with the Treasury Select Committee, FCA head Andrew Bailey made extensive use of the Glenn Beck Device.

Bailey admitted that the FCA had intervened a total of five times over London Capital & Finance over its misleading financial promotions, but feigned confusion over why the company continued to take in inexperienced retail investors' money in defiance of the FCA's insipid bleating. Almost all of which now appears to be lost.

Prime ISA delays filing accounts using Companies Act loophole

June 25, 2019June 19, 2019 ~ Brev ~ 1 Comment

Prime ISA Limited has used a loophole in the Companies Act to delay filing its annual accounts.

Prime ISA offered IFISA bonds paying 7% per year (although its literature was contradictory on this point), the proceeds of which were to be used to refurb a data centre.

Breaking: Paul Careless, CEO of London Capital and Finance’s marketing agent, arrested

June 20, 2019 ~ Brev ~ 1 Comment

Surge Financial CEO Paul Careless was arrested yesterday and questioned for four and a half hours, the Evening Standard has revealed.

Surge Financial was London Capital & Finance's marketing agent. Another company in the Surge network, RPDigitalservices, which was controlled by Careless from July 2018 to April 2019, ran the top-isa-rates and best-interest-rates websites which channeled investors to London Capital & Finance using misleading comparisons between FSCS-protected deposit rates and LCF's high-risk rates.