The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has announced that it is taking enforcement action against Hartley Pensions Limited and an unnamed individual.

Hartley Pensions was a self-invested personal pension (SIPP) operator authorised and regulated by the FCA.

It also provided administration for a small number of small self-administered schemes (SSAS), regulated by The Pensions Regulator.

Hartley Pensions entered administration at the FCA's request in 2022.

At the time, the business was already subject to a number of FCA restrictions due to serious operational, financial and regulatory issues.

The FCA has alleged that Hartley provided it with “false and misleading information and improperly withdrew and invested substantial amounts of customers’ pension funds, without their consent, to benefit an individual at the firm”.

The regulator also alleged, “the individual dishonestly used the pension funds and made false representations to obtain money for a company that they owned. They then misled the FCA to conceal this misconduct”.

The FCA has issued Warning Notices to both Hartley Pensions and the individual, but these are not the regulator’s final decisions.

Both warning notices allege that misconduct resulted from “the individual putting their own interests above those of pension holders”.

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