Aviva has apologised and launched an investigation after advisers were falsely told the value of the clients’ portfolios had plummeted.

The incorrect alerts called advisers to act on the news or risk breaking regulatory rules.

As per European regulation, the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II), it is a legal requirement to inform clients when their discretionary managed portfolio has dropped by more than 10 per cent since the last quarterly statement.

The Aviva alert read: “Please be aware that the following accounts have dropped in value by more than 10 per cent.

“MiFID II regulations require clients to be informed of this loss by the close of business on the day of notification.”

Alex Turco, a Chartered Financial Planner at PwC, tweeted about his frustration with the error-hit system.

He wrote: “So Aviva has decided today that every one of my clients’ portfolios has gone down by more than 10% in the last three months.

“Therefore, it will be issuing the required notification under MiFID II.

“In fact it is saying a typical loss of between 26% and 31%

“Given that it is three months since its new platform went live, it may come as no surprise to learn that this is yet another mistake.

“The portfolios are well within the 10% in a quarter.

“The starting data point appears wrong.

“I believe this is a very serious situation.

“There has been zero accountability from Aviva and FNZ and if it is going to issue incorrect communications to everyone of my clients, it is time for someone to take responsibility.

“I hope that somehow Aviva can suppress this miscommunication before upsetting clients.”

A spokeswoman for Aviva told Financial Planning Today: “Over the weekend some advisers received portfolio drop notifications in relation to their customers.

“These were sent in error and we are investigating the cause so that we can prevent future occurrences.

“We have also removed the notifications from the platform.
 
“We will be contacting advisers and will provide any further updates on the Aviva Platform whiteboard.

“We would like to sincerely apologise for any concern this has caused.”