FCA acts on pension scam risk

The UK financial regulator is looking to crack down on domestic and international pension transfers in a move that could give added protection to British investors in the UAE.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has issued an alert over the growing number of investors at risk of having their pension transferred into unsuitable investments or falling victim to scammers. The regulator said in a statement published recently “We are concerned that consumers receiving this advice are at risk of transferring into unsuitable investments or – worse – being scammed.”

The FCA’s alert applies both to domestic UK and international pension transfers, which it said are often carried out without considering the assets in which the client’s funds will be invested.
This is the latest front in a global regulatory attack on international advisers using questionable sales practices to sell expensive long-term savings plans, often aimed at international workers.
                       

There have been similar moves in Qatar, Singapore, South Africa, Hong Kong, Poland and India. Financial regulators in offshore centres in British crown dependencies Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man, where many international insurers selling offshore insurance plans to UAE residents are based, have also stepped up warnings following a rise in scams.