Maguire says bid for Arch Cru compensation will fail

13 August 2010 8:00 am | By Chris Salih

Cru Investment Management founder Jon Maguire believes IFAs will fail in their attempt to seek compensation from Capita for losses their clients have suffered through the Arch Cru range.

Last week, Money Marketing revealed that around 1,300 complaint letters had been sent to Capita asking for the firm to refund their original investment in the CF Arch cru fund range. This total has now reached around 2,000.

The move was organised by law firm Regulatory Legal in association with over 120 IFA firms. Regulatory Legal says if the complaints against Capita - which acted as authorised corporate director on the range - are not resolved within eight weeks, they will be sent on to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

Maguire says: “What they are trying for has not been tested and it may get kicked out because they are trying to ask the FOS to rule on the behaviour of the ACD and not on the advice and I suspect they will find a reason not to go forward with it.”

He says he would like to see the group of IFAs succeed but suggests a better route to investor compensation would be for the FSA to step in.
Regulatory Legal partner Gareth Fatchett says: “Jon Maguire misunderstands the scope of the FOS. It can certainly consider the complaints against Capita as ACD.

“It is preferable that the regulator intervenes but in order for that to happen there needs to be a genuine request for a wider implications’ review. We believe the process we are following for investors puts massive pressure on the FSA to intervene.”

If you enjoyed this article, sign up here to receive daily email updates from Money Marketing and Follow @_moneymarketing