We are ordinary cautious savers who were persuaded to invest in plans designed to prop up a failing Lehmans in 2008 by misleading literature and advice.

ANOTHER MIS-SELLING SCANDAL? DEFINITELY!

The firms marketing these products were regulated by the UK's Financial Services Authority. The FSA closed down three product providers (NDFA, ARC and DRL) in 2009 because they were unable to meet potential Lehman mis-selling claims. The FSA also fined IFAs large sums, reported wide-spread mis-selling, and handed the compensation problem over to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) and the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS).

Are FSCS and FOS helping? No!

6000 UK savers invested over £107 million in these plans, mainly through the three firms that were forced to close down. FSCS has so far only compensated 999 savers from those three firms (total £16m) leaving thousands of others with Lehman plans from the same firms waiting for a decision. FSCS has been considering what to do about the remaining plans since October 2009, and will only say it is complicated. These plans all had the same underlying credit risk and all failed in the same way.

Many Lehman investors with complaints against their financial advisors have turned to the Financial Ombudsman Service. However, many of these cases have been stuck since last year waiting for an ombudsman to become available.

The lastest FSCS figures (July 2010) paint an even worse picture than reported by the BBC in this report from March 2010:

 

WE WANT:

1)THE FINANCIAL SERVICES COMPENSATION SCHEME TO ACT NOW AND DECLARE THAT WE ARE COVERED BY THE SCHEME THAT WAS DESIGNED TO PROTECT US

2)THE FINANCIAL OMBUDSMAN SERVICE TO ALLOCATE OMBUDSMEN TO OUR IFA COMPLAINT CASES

FEEL MISLED? THEN JOIN OUR ACTION GROUP – SPIRIT (Structured Product Investors Recovery Information Team)

Progress so far:

  • July 2009: Parliamentary Debate in Westminster Hall - raising the political profile, and forcing the Financial Services Authority to make a statement
  • September 2009: Lehman victims protest outside FSA, get a meeting with FSA Director of Conduct, Dan Waters, and attract national TV and press coverage
  • October 2009: FSA investigation reports widespread mis-selling of Lehman-backed structured products
  • December 2009: FSCS starts accepting compensation claims for certain Lehman-backed products
  • February 2010: RSM Tenon is the first IFA to be fined for its part in selling these products (£700k fine)
  • April/May 2010: Financial Ombudsman upholds a number of Lehman victim complaints against IFAs
  • June 2010: A new EDM is raised in Westminster calling for FSCS compensation for all Lehman mis-selling victims
  • July 2010: A meeting between Dan Rogerson MP and Mark Neale (FSCS CEO) calling for compensation for Lehman mis-selling victims

What you can do next:

We need to work together to promote our case but we need make individual representations as well.

  • If you are unhappy with advice from your IFA visit the Financial Ombudsman Service web site for practical advice on what to do next (USEFUL LINKS) and see the latest BBC interview with the financial ombudsman (NEWS & VIEWS)
  • If you have a "capital secure" Lehman-backed product from DRL, NDFA, or ARC, you should by now have received a FSCS claim form. Visit the FSCS site for advice.(USEFUL LINKS)
  • If you have one of the following "capital at risk" Lehman-backed products please push FSCS for a decision on "capital at risk" products (USEFUL LINKS):
    • NDFA - Fixed Income or Growth Plan February 2008
    • NDFA - Fixed Income Plan June 2008
    • DRL - Kick Out Performance Plan Issue 1
    • Arc - Fixed Income Plan 6
    • Arc - Stepped Kick Out Plan 5.
  • What else you can do:
    • Ask your MP to support the latest Early Day Motion calling for victim compensation, to write to the Treasury on your behalf and to raise a question in the House (WESTMINSTER)
    • Help raise the profile of this scandal by contributing to the "comments" sections of the many online press articles covering our case (NEWS & VIEWS)
    • Make yourself known to us if you have not already done so (JOIN US)
    • Keep us informed about any changes to the status of your case so that we can monitor the overall picture across the group(UPDATE US)