Trigon Pensions fined for failing to monitor subsidiary

LONDON - The UK Financial Services Authority (FSA) has fined Trigon Pensions £10,500, for failing to monitor advisers effectively at its appointed representative, Trigon Financial Services (TFS).

According to the FSA, TFS did not record sufficient customer inform- ation, and was therefore unable to demonstrate the quality of the advice that was given.

It also failed to implement and follow an adequate training and competence scheme for advisers, and its suitability letters were inadequate.

"Trigon's failures were serious and mirrored some of the main failings we found during our work into the process of giving financial advice last year," says Jonathan Phelan, head of retail enforcement at the FSA.

"At that time we identified the key areas that firms needed to address, which included training and competence, the production of clear suitability and controls for monitoring the advice process... A firm's management is responsible for ensuring it follows FSA rules, and we will take appropriate action from the various supervisory and enforcement tools we have available where failings are found."

The FSA reviewed 100 firms. The results, published in July 2006, found many examples of good practice, but the work identified substantial failings in an unacceptable number of firms.