The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) today provided an update regarding London Capital & Finance (LCF) complaints.
The FCA standard approach to complaints is that any complaint about the FCA should be made within 12 months of the date on which the complainant first became aware of the circumstances giving rise to their complaint.
Therefore, in the case of London Capital & Finance (LCF), the FCA would typically not investigate any complaints under the Complaints Scheme following 17 December 2021, given this point in time is 12 months from the date on which the Gloster Report was published.
However, given the exceptional circumstances surrounding LCF, individuals will continue to be able to make complaints to the FCA about its handling of LCF for a further 3 months, until 17 March 2022.
The regulator says:
“We will continue to have the flexibility to investigate complaints raised after that time if the complainant can show reasonable grounds for delay, as per the terms of the Complaints Scheme”.
Following the publication of Dame Elizabeth Gloster’s report into the FCA’s regulation of LCF, the regulator published its response. It acknowledged that LCF’s collapse has had a significant impact on the lives of many individuals who invested money they could not afford to lose. The FCA said it was very sorry for the errors it made in its handling of this case.
The UK Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) has now started to contact and offer compensation to bondholders who are eligible under the government’s LCF compensation scheme. FSCS says it will contact everyone as soon as possible and all bondholders will receive their offer by 20 April 2022.