We have written to people who complained about how we handled Wellesley & Co Ltd (WCL).
Complainants raised concerns about our actions in relation to the wider Wellesley Group. WCL was the only FCA-regulated company in the Group and was responsible for approving financial promotions marketed to investors.
We carefully reviewed all the complaints that were made and upheld one about how part of WCL's authorisation process was handled at the time. However, we found this did not cause investors' losses. Those losses resulted from the failure of unregulated companies within the Wellesley Group, not from how WCL was authorised. We have not found that WCL should not have been authorised.
We are sorry that complainants suffered financial loss and have a great deal of sympathy for their situation.
We have apologised to complainants for the failing identified. A decision letter[1] has been issued to complainants today.