The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has today banned Elizabeth Anne Parry from performing any function in relation to any regulated financial activity and fined her £109,400 for lying repeatedly to the regulator when asked about her qualification status.
Miss Parry was authorised in May 2006 as a sole trader to conduct investment and mortgage business and, from January 2015, for consumer credit activities. Since 2013, retail investment advisers have been required to hold a Statement of Professional Standing (SPS) and achieve the relevant professional qualifications, as part of changes following the Retail Distribution Review.
Miss Parry made six misleading statements to the FCA between January 2013 and September 2015, with the intention of making the FCA believe that she had attained the appropriate qualifications to provide investment advice and that she had engaged in numerous dealings with her professional body, the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII), as to why it had not supplied her with an SPS.
In October 2013, Miss Parry submitted a fabricated document to the FCA, which purported to be an SPS issued by the CII which would remain valid until January 2014. In May 2014 the FCA asked Miss Parry to verify that she had obtained the appropriate qualifications. Miss Parry then submitted a second fabricated SPS.
Following enquiries by the FCA, in July 2015 the CII informed the FCA that it had no record of Miss Parry applying for, or being issued with, an SPS.
It was not until a compelled interview in November 2015 that Miss Parry admitted her misconduct.
Mark Steward, Director of Enforcement and Market Oversight at the FCA said:
“We raised the minimum qualification standards in order to protect consumers from financial harm, and Miss Parry’s behaviour demonstrates a clear disregard of those standards and her duty to be honest with the FCA. We will not tolerate this sort of behaviour.”
The FCA considers that Miss Parry’s behaviour amounted to a failure to act with integrity, and that she poses a risk to consumers and to the integrity of the financial system. The FCA has therefore prohibited Miss Parry from performing any function in relation to any regulated activity.
Miss Parry ceased to be authorised in November 2015 and has ceased trading. She provided verifiable evidence of serious financial hardship. Had it not been for her financial circumstances, the FCA would have imposed a financial penalty of £157,395 plus interest (or £135,100 adjusted for a 30% (stage 1) discount) on Miss Parry.
Notes for editors
- The final notice for Elizabeth Anne Parry[1] (PDF)
- Find out more about Professional Standards[2]
- On 1 April 2013 the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) became responsible for the conduct supervision of all regulated financial firms and the prudential supervision of those not supervised by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA)
- The FCA has an overarching strategic objective of ensuring the relevant markets function well. To support this it has three operational objectives: to secure an appropriate degree of protection for consumers; to protect and enhance the integrity of the UK financial system; and to promote effective competition in the interests of consumers
- Find out more information about the FCA