Simon Read: Open sesame? Hardly when it came to doling out advice

 

Simon Read
Friday 07 June 2013 18:45 BST
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You may not have heard of it but Sesame is one of the UK's largest network of financial advisers. It was in the news this week after being slapped with a £6m fine for poor advice and controls.

This mainly related to the selling of "death" bonds. These were the morally questionable investments which relied on the payouts from life-insurance policies of people who had a short life expectancy.

Happily, many of the policyholders live longer than expected, which meant the people hoping to profit from their deaths failed to do so. However, Sesame's staff were accused by the City watchdog of failing to tell investors of the risks involved. Hence the fine.

But it shouldn't put you off getting advice. The secret is to find a decent adviser says Adam Price of Vouchedfor.co.uk.

"The fine given to Sesame shows that there is still work to do. It shows not all advisers are equal, and reaffirms that people need to be rigorous when choosing one."

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