A Bristol pensions provider has been put into administration at the request of the UK's financial regulator. Hartley Pensions, on Marsh Street, was stopped by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) from conducting new business earlier this year, including accepting new clients.
The FCA imposed restrictions on the firm due to a number of “serious operational, financial and regulatory issues" within the business. The FCA has now said Hartley Pensions needs to enter an insolvency process in the interest of customers.
Peter Kubik and Brian Johnson of UHY Hacker Young have been appointed as joint administrators. Bosses at Hartley - a self-invested personal pension (SIPP) provider - sought professional insolvency advice, which resulted in them acknowledging the company was insolvent and no longer able to operate outside of an insolvency process.
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Hartley Pensions was founded in 1981 and joined the Wilton Group of companies in 2015. It manages around 16,000 self-invested personal pension (SIPP) and small self-administered pension scheme (SSAS) accounts. The joint administrators will be writing to Hartley Pensions’ customers to explain what the insolvency means for them and what action they should take.
The administrators will continue to administer the customer accounts in line with the requirements of the FCA, it said. Existing pension assets are held by trustee firms which have not entered into administration. The administrators will shortly undertake a reconciliation of the funds held by those trustees and will then be in contact with customers after that.
Due to the requirements of the FCA, account holders cannot currently make new pension contributions or transfer into or out of an account managed by Hartley. However, account holders are able to draw down funds from their pensions, trade investments and request their pension commencement lump sum amounts as normal. The administrators are now in discussions with a number of different parties with a view to them taking on the management of Hartley’s client accounts.
"The aim is that once a new provider has been found, an agreement will be put in place for the accounts to be transferred to the new provider as soon as possible," the administrators said in a statement.
The administrators are also in discussions about the insolvency with relevant regulators including the FCA, HMRC, the Pensions Regulator, the Financial Ombudsman Service and the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS).
The news comes just two months after Hartley Pensions appointed a new chief executive who said he would lead expansion plans that would create 34 jobs in Bristol.
What will happen to my pension with Hartley?
According to the FCA, SIPPs currently in drawdown are not affected by the firm entering administration. At the moment, Hartley Pensions is not accepting contributions from clients to be paid into their pensions. This will be kept under review and if this changes the joint administrators will contact any affected clients. Clients should not try to make payments into or transfer assets into their SIPP. If they do, they will be returned, the FCA said.
Existing pension assets are currently unaffected by the firm going into administration. They are held by trustee firms, which are not regulated by the FCA and have not entered into insolvency. If this changes the joint administrators will contact any clients affected.
Is my pension protected by the FSCS?
The FSCS is the compensation scheme for clients of UK authorised financial services firms and protects consumers when those firms are not able to meet protected claims against them. The FSCS has eligibility criteria in respect of the activities and the people who are covered. This means, for example, that coverage may apply to SIPP products, but does not extend to clients who have invested in SSAS.
If Hartley Pensions is not able to meet claims against it, and the FSCS identify any claims eligible under their rules, customers will be entitled to apply for compensation up to the limit of £85,000. The FSCS will work closely with the joint administrators and investigate whether there are any claims that meet the qualifying conditions for compensation.
What happens now?
According to the FCA, it is in “regular contact” with the joint administrators, who are looking at the options available, including the transfer of Hartley Pensions clients to another FCA regulated SIPP operator. If this is not possible, the administrators will look to pursue other options aimed at transferring SIPPs or returning SIPP assets back to clients.
Hartley Pensions also holds a number of SSAS, which are regulated by the Pension Regulator, not the FCA. The FCA said the joint administrators would be in touch with clients of Hartley with further information if they have a SSAS with the firm.
The joint administrators will publish detailed guidance of the next steps for Hartley Pensions clients and creditors in due course.
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