Keydata investors slam PwC on payment delays
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Keydata investors have hit out at the firm’s administrators PricewaterhouseCoopers, saying it has failed to keep them informed of when to expect delayed income payments.
PwC was appointed administrator of Keydata last June. In August, the Serious Fraud Office started investigating £100m of potentially missing assets invested via Keydata Investment Services.
Investors are experiencing ongoing delays with Keydata plans invested with Lifemark in Luxemburg, where KPMG has been appointed provisional administrator.
Carrie Sutcliffe, who is invested in the secure income and defined-income plans, says she got her monthly payment for November in early December and has had nothing since.
She says: “The frustrating thing is that we never get any news from PwC. No one has contacted me since all this broke in June, except for my IFA. The peace of mind of investors seems to be very low on PwC’s list of priorities.”
Sutcliffe has also criticised PwC over its costs. According to the six-monthly report to creditors, published last week, PwC has taken fees of £1.74m plus VAT at 15 per cent in relation to its accrued time costs, which totalled £4.68m.
Sutcliffe says: “I think it is obscene. Where is that money going to come from, given the financial position of Keydata?”
Doug Martin, who is invested in the secure investment plan 8, says he should be getting quarterly payments but has only had one payment since June.
Martin says PwC is unresponsive and investors are not being adequately informed of any progress.
He says: “According to the PwC report, there have been a lot of man-hours spent on this but there is a total lack of communication. We have had no feedback on the Lifemark administration being conducted by KPMG in Luxemburg.”
A PwC spokeswoman says: “The helpline has been informing people that there is a four-week delay on Lifemark payments, which has been exacerbated by the last few weeks of bad weather, leaving our processing staff unable to get into the office. In addition, they have notified callers that Lifemark have given us assurances that all income payments will be up to date by the end of January.
“Due to the complexity of this administration, there are still answers which we do not have but we have committed to upda-ting investors whenever we can.”
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Readers' comments (4)
Harish Karia | 14 Jan 2010 6:57 pm
Me and my wife bot have investments in KEYDATA. We are both retired and we depend on the timely income. We both have 2 different plans. My wife have received December payment on one of the plans, she is waiting for
December income payment on the second plan. I am waiting for December payment on both the plans. as you can see we are waiting for te december income payments, and we are already in to January !!! As your report says PWC does not seem to be doing their job properly, and for the fees they are charing !!!
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Mike Sibbons | 15 Jan 2010 10:12 am
My wife and I have a Secure Income Plan Series 9, which is suppose to give monthly income payments. The November payment was received in mid-December and, as at today, we have not received payments for December. The Keydata Helpline staff try their best to keep us 'calm', but are not kept 'up to speed' by PwC - all they can say is that the money comes from Lifemark in a completely adhoc manner and, usually, 4 to 6 weeks late - quite dreadful communication from the administrators. However the Keydats Victims website is excellent and the originators should be commended.
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Peter Hilton | 15 Jan 2010 10:59 am
My wife and I have 20 years of accumulated savings in four "ISA" Plans with Keydata. The income from these is an essential part of our retirement income. We understand that there have been a number of tricky problems, (mainly, it appears, due to incompetence from the FSA over several years) and that PWC may be reluctant to make predictions about the future - but there is no excuse whatsoever for not telling us what.payments we SHOULD have had. (a table published on the PWC website) This would at least remove the worry that our payments have gone astray in the chaos. Ours appear to be running about six weeks late at present - and this is lengthening. At nearly £1M per month PWC's performance has been appalling in our view.
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Joan Wright | 16 Jan 2010 9:50 pm
My husband and I downsized from our family home so we could invest the money and receive regular monthly payments to supplement our basic government retirement pension. We took advice from our banks IFA and have a SIP (1) 5 year plan. We are now owed two months income from this plan (Dec & Jan). We worried that our payments had gone astray, only by joining the Keydate Victims website did we realise others were in the same position as us. Isn't it about time PWC kept us (the clients) informed and did something to earn the huge amount of money they receive each month.
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