FCA Bans Former SVS Securities CEO and Fines Him £56,400

The Financial Conduct Authority has banned Demetrios Hadjigeorgiou from senior management roles in financial services and fined him £56,400, closing its case against the former chief executive of SVS Securities on August 19, 2026. The penalty settles a two-year dispute over the collapse of a discretionary fund manager that channelled £69.6 million of retail pension money into high-risk bonds paying the firm commissions of up to 12%.

Hadjigeorgiou was SVS’s finance director from January 2017 and its CEO from May 1, 2018 until August 7, 2019, two days after the firm entered special administration. The final notice, dated August 17, 2026, finds he breached the regulator’s requirement that senior managers exercise due skill, care and diligence, and rules he is not a fit and proper person. The prohibition bars him from any senior management or significant influence function at any FCA-authorised firm.

The fine is a reduction from the £84,600 penalty the FCA originally decided on in April 2024, when it acted against three SVS individuals. Hadjigeorgiou referred that decision to the Upper Tribunal, the court that hears appeals of FCA enforcement, then withdrew the reference after both sides agreed to settle. The regulator recategorised his role in one episode (a 10% markdown applied to customers’ bond holdings when they sold) from an integrity breach to a competence breach, with no change to the underlying factual findings.

A Business Model Built on Commission

The final notice describes a firm engineered to move pension savings into illiquid fixed income products run by connected parties. SVS operated four model portfolios holding money inside self-invested personal pensions. Of the £69.6 million 879 customers invested, around 63% sat in fixed income products by July 2019, each carrying commission paid to SVS out of the principal customers handed over:

• CFBL Bonds: £23.9 million invested, commission of 10–12% paid by CFBL; the bonds defaulted on coupon payments by April 2020 and customers are expected to recover 20–35%
• ICFL Bond: £9.8 million invested for a 10% commission, of which SVS drew £750,000 upfront before any due diligence was done, booked as a loan
• Ingard Property Bonds: £5.7 million invested for 10% plus 2% commissions; SVS helped get one bond listed and rated while already committed to investing
• Angelfish preference shares: £3.1 million invested at 9–10% commission while an SVS director sat on Angelfish’s board; the shares defaulted on dividends in June 2019

The commission flow then funded the distribution machine. SVS paid unauthorised introducers 7–9% of whatever customer funds they steered in, and more than half the model portfolio customers arrived through an advice firm controlled by the owners of one of those introducers. Under the FCA’s inducements rule in force since January 3, 2018, firms cannot accept third-party commission for services to retail clients, a rule the notice says Hadjigeorgiou, as director and chief executive, should have ensured SVS followed. He was also aware the FCA had warned SVS in January 2018 about concentration in CFBL bonds and about the quality of its due diligence; SVS gave a written assurance it would reduce the concentration, then invested a further £5.1 million in CFBL’s Series 9.

The 10% Markdown

In November 2018, with SVS facing liquidity problems, its board approved a 10% markdown on the fixed income holdings of any customer who disinvested. It applied regardless of how long they had held the investment, contradicting the firm’s own brochure, and was not disclosed in writing to customers, their pension trustees, or their advisers for six months. Staff raised fairness concerns with the board and compliance at least nine times between November 2018 and February 2019. Customers disinvested £5,784,000 under the policy, generating £359,800 for SVS.

The notice’s case studies show what that meant at account level. One customer, a personal assistant earning around £31,000 a year, lost £10,621 to the markdown; when she complained, SVS told her it did not apply exit charges and attributed the loss to a “wider spread” on the bonds. Another customer, a 60-year-old carer with an annual income of £4,700, lost £3,590.

How the Fine Was Calculated

The FCA’s five-step penalty framework for individuals starts from relevant income: Hadjigeorgiou’s total earnings at SVS over the breach period of January 3, 2018 to August 2, 2019, which the notice puts at £282,243. Finding no direct financial benefit to disgorge at step one, the regulator assessed the breach at seriousness level three of five: the level-four factor of significant consumer loss applied, but the conduct was negligent rather than deliberate or reckless. Twenty percent of relevant income produced £56,448, with no adjustment for mitigation or deterrence and no settlement discount — the case settled too late in the process to earn one. Rounded down, the penalty is £56,400.

What the Settlement Leaves Running

Hadjigeorgiou will pay in 48 monthly instalments of £1,175 beginning September 1, 2026 — an instalment structure the FCA typically agrees when an individual demonstrates limited means. A missed payment makes the full balance due immediately.

The settlement also splits the SVS enforcement into three different end states. Kulvir Virk, the former CEO and majority shareholder, did not refer his case and was fined £215,500 and banned from financial services in 2024. David Stephen, the former head of compliance, referred his £52,100 decision notice to the Upper Tribunal and continues to contest it; his hearing remains pending, and the findings against him stay provisional. The notices warn that Hadjigeorgiou’s final notice contains criticisms of Stephen that he disputes and that no tribunal has tested.

Customers, meanwhile, have been in the Financial Services Compensation Scheme’s claims process since August 10, 2020. The UK lifeboat fund compensates eligible investors when a failed firm cannot pay, up to £85,000 per person per firm for investment business — relevant here because SVS was dissolved on August 10, 2023 and the defaulted bonds themselves are expected to return only a fraction of invested principal.

The enforcement arc also shows where individual accountability lands relative to customer loss. SVS itself is gone; what remains is a seven-year process that produced one contested tribunal case still to be heard, two settled bans, and a compensation scheme working through 879 customers’ claims.