Client paperwork on a desk

Checking an adviser’s permissions

An FCA decision published on 3 September 2026 shows the difference between authorisation and permission. A firm can be authorised by the FCA and still not be permitted to do the specific thing a client is about to ask it to do. Authorisation and permission are two different records, held in the same place, and only the second answers the question a practice asks when it decides which firms it will put in front of clients.

9 min read · Altro Partners, by Equity & General

Reacting to

FCA decides to ban and fine Daniel Thomas over unauthorised pension transfer advice — Financial Conduct Authority, 3 September 2026

What the FCA has decided

On 3 September 2026 the FCA published its decision to ban Daniel Thomas from working in financial services and to fine him £742,700, after finding that he recklessly gave defined benefit pension transfer advice he was neither qualified nor allowed to give. Mr Thomas has referred the Decision Notice to the Upper Tribunal, where he will present his case. The FCA says its findings are provisional, that they reflect the FCA’s belief as to what occurred, and that no action will be taken until the Tribunal reaches its decision.

Mr Thomas was a director and financial adviser at DPT Financial Solutions Limited. Over five years he advised 53 clients about 63 transfers out of defined benefit pension schemes, and is believed to have earned more than £173,000 in fees. The FCA states that he repeatedly misled clients and pension providers about his professional qualifications, destroyed client records, and failed to co-operate with the investigation. Therese Chambers, the FCA’s executive director of enforcement and market oversight, said he had “recklessly betrayed that responsibility”.

£742,700
the fine in the FCA’s decision of 3 September 2026
53
clients advised over five years
63
transfers out of defined benefit pension schemes
£173,000
in fees, more than which he is believed to have earned

Financial Conduct Authority, 3 September 2026. The findings are provisional pending the Upper Tribunal.

DPT Financial Solutions was an appointed representative. Another authorised firm, a principal, was responsible for overseeing what it did, and the FCA states that Mr Thomas provided misleading information to that principal about his involvement in the pension transfer cases. The oversight structure was in place, but the principal received misleading information.

Authorisation and permission

The FCA’s statement of the rule is general. It is not normally in consumers’ best interests to transfer out of a defined benefit pension, because those schemes provide valuable guaranteed benefits which increase annually. That is why only advisers with specialist qualifications and the correct permissions can advise on whether to transfer out.

There are two requirements. The firm must hold the permission, and the individual must hold the specialist qualification. A firm that is authorised by the FCA can still be a firm that is not permitted to advise on a defined benefit transfer, and the phrase “they’re FCA regulated” does not distinguish between those cases. The Financial Services Register records both: whether a firm is authorised, and which regulated activities it is permitted to carry on. The FCA’s consumer tool is built to check whether a firm is authorised and has permission for the service it is offering.

FCA, 3 September 2026: only advisers with specialist qualifications and the correct permissions can advise on whether to transfer out of a defined benefit pension.

Appointed representatives

An appointed representative carries on regulated activity under the responsibility of an authorised firm, the principal. The FCA’s published expectations of a principal are specific.

The boundary of an appointed representative is the scope of the appointment, and that is whatever the written agreement between the two firms covers. It is not the principal’s full permission set. A practice that looks up a firm and sees only the principal’s wide permissions has not checked what the appointment covers. The question to ask is who the principal is and what the appointment covers. It goes on file once per firm.

A worked example

This example uses a made-up client and a made-up practice.

A client of a three-partner practice is 58, has been offered a redundancy package, and mentions in a year-end meeting that she has a deferred defined benefit pension from an employer she left in 2004 and is “looking into moving it”. She has already spoken to someone. The partner has fifteen minutes and no regulated permissions of his own. In fifteen minutes the partner can do the following.

1

Establish the firm by name

The legal entity and its firm reference number if she has it. Not the individual’s first name, and not the trading name on an email signature.

2

Look it up on the Financial Services Register

Confirm it is authorised, and read what it is permitted to do. If the entry shows an appointed representative, note the principal and treat the scope question as open.

3

Note the specific activity

A defined benefit transfer is not general investment advice. If the permission for it is not visible, record that.

4

Say nothing about the merits

Whether the transfer is a good idea for her is a regulated question with a starting assumption against it, and it belongs to a qualified, permitted adviser.

5

Write down what happened

Date, firm, what was looked up, what was said, what she agreed could be passed on.

Nothing in that sequence requires a permission the accountant does not have, and nothing in it is advice. The division of roles is set out in who does what, and how an introduction is recorded in the anatomy of an introduction. In an Altro partnership the firm is Equity & General, whose authorisation and permissions are on the Financial Services Register under FCA number 474163, and each introduction is made through the portal in the firm’s name and tracked there from the first call to advice in place.

Two things to do this week

  1. Look up every firm the practice puts clients in front of. Confirm each is authorised, read what it is permitted to do, note whether it is an appointed representative and who its principal is, and save the result with the date.
  2. Agree what the practice says about defined benefit schemes. Deferred final salary pensions come up in year-end conversations, redundancy discussions and divorce work. A practice that has agreed a form of words, that this is specialist, permitted advice, that the starting position in the rules is against transferring, and that the practice does not comment on the merits, does not have to improvise one in a meeting. The same discipline applies in what happens when an adviser firm fails.
Two people going through paperwork at a desk

What is not yet settled

The case is live. The findings are provisional pending the Upper Tribunal, no hearing date has been published, and the Tribunal’s decision will appear on its own website. The FCA has not named the principal firm in its press release, and has not said what supervisory consequence, if any, follows for that firm. Follow the FCA’s press release and the Tribunal’s published decisions.

The structure underneath the case is settled: the Register, the permission regime, the specialist qualification requirement for defined benefit transfers, and the published duties of a principal firm towards its appointed representatives. A practice can act on those today.

Introductions after a case like this

The FCA’s Financial Lives 2024 survey found that 8.6% of UK adults had taken regulated financial advice in the previous twelve months, and 13% of the self-employed. The figures are set out on the advice gap. A case like this is a reason to check permissions before each introduction. The client in the example was going to look into her pension either way. The check takes a few minutes per firm, and the accountant sees the deferred scheme in the paperwork.

Common questions

What is the difference between a firm being authorised and holding the right permission?

A firm on the Financial Services Register has been authorised by the FCA. The Register also records the specific regulated activities that firm is permitted to carry on, and those vary between firms. A firm authorised to advise on investments is not thereby permitted to advise on transferring out of a defined benefit pension, which is a separate permission requiring specialist qualifications. The FCA’s consumer tool checks both: whether a firm is authorised and whether it has permission for the service being offered.

What is an appointed representative, and why does it matter when introducing a client?

An appointed representative carries on regulated activity under the responsibility of an authorised firm, known as the principal. The principal must have a written agreement setting out what business the appointed representative can do, must assess them as fit and proper before appointing them, must notify the FCA at least 30 days before the appointment takes effect, and must take reasonable steps to ensure they act within the scope of that appointment. The scope of the appointment, and not the principal’s full permissions, is the boundary of what the appointed representative may do. Ask who the principal is and what the appointment covers.

Is an accountant expected to police what an adviser is permitted to do?

No. Responsibility for staying within permissions sits with the authorised firm and, where relevant, with its principal. What the accountant controls is which firms the practice is willing to put clients in front of, and whether that decision was recorded. Looking a firm up on the Financial Services Register and noting what it is permitted to do takes a few minutes once per firm. It is due diligence on a business relationship, of the same kind a practice applies to any professional it works alongside.

Why are defined benefit transfers treated differently from other advice?

A transfer gives up guaranteed benefits. The FCA’s position, stated again in this decision, is that it is not normally in consumers’ best interests to transfer out of a defined benefit pension, since those schemes provide valuable guaranteed benefits which increase annually. That is why only advisers with specialist qualifications and the correct permissions can advise on whether to transfer. A deferred defined benefit scheme in a client’s paperwork is the one case where the adviser’s specific permission should be checked before a conversation starts.

What should a practice record when it introduces a client to a financial planner?

Which client, on what date, to which firm, what the client agreed could be passed on, and what the practice said the introduction was. Alongside that, keep one note per firm recording that the firm’s authorisation and permissions were looked up, when, and what they covered. In an Altro partnership the introduction is recorded in the portal, in the firm’s name, and the firm sees it tracked there from the first call to advice in place.

Does a provisional FCA decision mean the findings are established?

No. The FCA has issued a Decision Notice and the individual has referred it to the Upper Tribunal, where he will present his case. The FCA says its findings are provisional, that they reflect the FCA’s belief as to what occurred and how it considers the behaviour should be characterised, and that no action will be taken until the Tribunal reaches its decision, which will be published on the Tribunal’s website. Describe the allegations as allegations. The regulatory structure the case illustrates is settled and published.

Financial planning for your clients, alongside the accounts and tax work

Equity & General holds the FCA authorisation. There is no charge to your firm, and a named partnership director works with you from the first introduction.

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