Monday 24 October 2011

Arch Cru Compensation

This is money have covered the campaign in Parliament to get compensation for those who lost out in the Arch Cru investment crisis...

JEFF PRESTRIDGE: I see the better side of MPs as they join forces over Arch Cru
They may still be pariahs in the eyes of the public, but last week I witnessed the good side of MPs when they put aside political allegiances to fight for constituents.



The occasion was a debate in Westminster Hall on the Arch Cru investment funds debacle that threatens to leave a permanent scar on the reputation of the financial services industry and its regulator unless Ministers sort it out.

As regular readers of Financial Mail will be aware, the failure of Arch Cru has left 20,000 investors facing losses of up to 40 per cent, potentially even more.

Allegiances aside: MPs in Westminster debated the Arch Cru investment funds debacle
This is despite a £54 million compensation scheme brokered by the Financial Services Authority and those parties that were meant (but failed) to safeguard investors’ financial interests in Arch Cru. Naturally, most of the investors feel badly done by.

They thought they were buying a cautious investment that would steer them through retirement. And they thought they were buying into a funds operation regulated by the FSA and scrutinised by three of the world’s bluest-chip companies – BNY Mellon, HSBC and Capita. But they were horribly wrong.
More...Arch Cru investment funds scandal: The fight for compensation

MPs from five different parties stood up last week to vent their anger over how Arch Cru customers who were also constituents had been hung out to dry by the regulator.

They also poured scorn on Capita, which as authorised corporate director must bear the brunt of the blame for failing to spot that Arch Cru was nothing more than an investment ruse.

Financial Mail has pulled together the most damning comments from MPs in a special online report. It’s worth reading, although it will shock and anger you.

To give you a flavour, this is what Guy Opperman, the splendidly pugnacious Conservative MP for Hexham, had to say on Capita’s failure to cover investors’ losses in full: ‘Capita needs to grasp that is has a simple choice in this Parliament. Either it provides 100 per cent compensation or it will find that it has few friends in this House.

‘The £54 million is, frankly, not sufficient. This is not like Equitable Life because this is not a situation in which a company has run out of money.

‘Capita has not gone bust. To quote one investor who wrote to me, “The current package is barely a pinprick on Capita’s little finger”.’

The Government must order the FSA to seek full compensation from Capita for losses suffered by Arch Cru investors. Nothing else will suffice.

Read more: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/investing/article-2052242/Jeff-Prestridge-I-better-MPs-join-forces-Arch-Cru.html#ixzz1bgvV4Jog

and here