FCA Moves to Ban and Fine Adviser Daniel Thomas £742,700

The Financial Conduct Authority has decided to ban Daniel Thomas from working in financial services and fine him £742,700 after finding that he recklessly gave defined benefit pension transfer advice he was neither qualified nor permitted to give. The regulator announced the decision on 3 September 2026. Thomas has referred his Decision Notice to the Upper Tribunal, where he will present his case, so the findings remain provisional and the FCA will take no action against him until the Tribunal reaches its decision.

According to the Decision Notice, dated 15 August 2025, the FCA considers that between 8 April 2014 and 20 September 2019 Thomas breached Statement of Principle 1 (integrity), Statement of Principle 2 (due skill, care and diligence) and Statement of Principle 4 (co-operation) of its Statements of Principle for approved persons. The notice states that he gave pension transfer advice on 63 occasions to 53 clients who subsequently transferred their savings out of defined benefit schemes, that he destroyed records relating to that advice, and that he failed to cooperate with the FCA’s investigation.

Thomas was a director and financial adviser at DPT Financial Solutions Limited, a company he created on 21 June 2012 and of which he was the sole director and shareholder. DPT acted as an appointed representative of Quilter Financial Services Ltd, previously Intrinsic Financial Planning Limited, meaning Quilter was the principal firm responsible for overseeing the activities it had agreed DPT could carry out. Thomas was approved to perform the CF1 Director (Appointed Representative) function at DPT and the CF30 (Customer) function at Quilter. The FCA has made no findings against Quilter in connection with the matter.

Permissions and Qualification Requirements

The appointed representative agreement permitted Thomas to advise on mortgages and certain pension transfers, but it did not permit defined benefit transfer advice. Under the agreement’s terms, advisers wishing to provide such advice were required to attend a pension transfer workshop, pass an internal test, hold a G60 or AF3 qualification, and submit all proposed defined benefit transfers to Quilter’s compliance department for pre-approval. Thomas attended the workshop and passed a test that permitted him to advise on switches between defined contribution schemes, but he never obtained the G60 or AF3 qualifications and submitted no defined benefit transfer cases for pre-approval.

The FCA’s Conduct of Business Sourcebook requires that advice on defined benefit transfers be given or checked by a qualified Pension Transfer Specialist. Defined benefit schemes provide guaranteed retirement income that increases annually, and FCA guidance states that a firm should start by assuming a transfer will not be suitable. Separately, section 48 of the Pension Schemes Act 2015 requires pension providers to ensure members take appropriate independent advice before a transfer of safeguarded benefits worth more than £30,000 proceeds.

Misleading Statements and Concealment

The Decision Notice states that Thomas repeatedly misled clients, pension scheme providers and Quilter. In letters addressed to clients and sent to scheme administrators, he confirmed that he held “the correct authorisation under the relevant legislation to provide advice to carry out the transfer of any safeguarded benefits,” which the FCA says was false; without those representations, the transfers could not have proceeded. In 21 instances he signed Financial Advice Declaration Forms confirming he had the necessary permissions. He also misdescribed the business on Quilter’s IT system, categorising the transfers as “Fund Initial Charges” and in some cases as “personal pension” business rather than pension transfers, with the result that Quilter’s compliance systems could not identify them, according to the notice.

The FCA identified payments of £173,732.57 made to Thomas for the advice, paid into DPT’s bank account via Quilter, which retained 15% of the commission under the firms’ agreement. Quilter has told the FCA it has taken steps to contact the clients who received the unauthorised advice and to repay the commission it retained, plus interest. Four of the 53 clients were members of the British Steel Pension Scheme and were in a particularly vulnerable position when he advised them, the notice states. The FCA has previously taken enforcement action against a range of firms and individuals over advice given to consumers to transfer out of that scheme.

Quilter suspended Thomas from his customer-facing duties on 26 March 2019 after concerns arose about cases not recorded properly on its systems, missing paperwork and payments claimed before advice had been pre-approved. On 20 September 2019, Quilter terminated the appointed representative agreement, and it confirmed the termination in writing on 1 October 2019, stating that the reason was his provision of defined benefit transfer advice without its authority. The notice also states that since 4 November 2022, Thomas has not responded to repeated requests and compelled requirements to provide information and has refused to engage with attempts to arrange a second interview.

Penalty Calculation and Tribunal Referral

The £742,700 penalty comprises a disgorgement figure of £202,114 and a punitive figure of £540,645. The disgorgement element consists of £173,732 in income the FCA says directly stemmed from the breach, plus £28,382 in interest charged at Bank of England base rates. The punitive element is based on 40% of Thomas’s relevant income of £1,126,345 from DPT during the breach period, representing level 5, the most serious of five levels on the FCA’s scale, and was increased by 20% to reflect his failure to cooperate with the investigation. No settlement discount applied, and the total was rounded down to the nearest £100 in line with the FCA’s usual practice.

The FCA imposed the penalty under section 66 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 and the prohibition order under section 56 of that Act, concluding that Thomas lacks integrity and is not a fit and proper person to perform any function in relation to any regulated activity. Therese Chambers, executive director of enforcement and market oversight at the FCA, said: “When you advise someone on their pension, you hold their future in your hands. Mr Thomas recklessly betrayed that responsibility.”

The Upper Tribunal will determine what, if any, action is appropriate for the FCA to take on the financial penalty, and whether to dismiss the reference on the prohibition order or remit it to the FCA with directions. The Tribunal’s decision will be published on its website.