Pension transfer adviser Better Retirement Group Ltd, a firm which has used nearly 40 trading names, has today been placed under investigation by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.

The FSCS said the firm, under investigation for a number of BSPS pension transfers, was formerly known as Directly Financial Ltd and Financial Strategy Ltd.

The firm also currently trades under three main names: Better Retirement Group Ltd, Better Annuity and Better Retirement.

However a check of the FCA register shows the firm has used at least 38 trading names in its history, including at least four this year.

Previous names the company has used since 1993 include the Pension Tracing Service, Pension Vesting Service, MPI Financial, Better Wealth Management, CLAASS Financial Planning, Arlington Financial and Millenial (sic) Wealth. 

Previous names used by the company (from the FCA Register):

Source: FCA Register

Better Retirement Group Ltd (FRN: 153420) is one of more than 30 adviser firms with claims connected to transfers from the British Steel Pension Scheme (BSPS). It’s the third advisory business this week to face FSCS investigation over BSPS transfers. The FCA Register lists the firm at an address in Northampton. 

The FCA has placed a number of restrictions on the company over the past six years. In 2016 it was stopped from carrying out consumer buy-to-let mortgage business. In 2020 the firm was stopped from disposing of any assets and in May this year it was stopped from conducting any investment business.

Stuart Philip Bayliss is listed as the SMF3 executive director of Better Retirement Group Ltd and also as SMF16 for Compliance Oversight.

The FSCS said that in 2017, many British Steel workers were advised to transfer out of their defined benefit pension into a defined contribution pension, typically a Personal Pension Plan or a Self-Invested Personal Pension (SIPP). 

The compensation body said that by transferring to a private pension arrangement, members of the BSPS scheme would have lost the benefits already built up in the British Steel Pension Scheme. The FSCS said the advice they received, “may not have been the best advice for them.”

The FSCS investigation may be followed by Better Retirement Group being declared in default, opening the door to claims for compensation from clients.

The FSCS has pointed out that a claims company is not necessary to claim compensation.