Fimbra acts against advisers

WADSWORTH Bates, a firm of financial advisers in Wetherby, West Yorkshire, has been forced to suspend its investment business while financial regulators from Fimbra investigate its involvement with a Portuguese property development scheme.

Fimbra said yesterday that Wadsworth Bates had failed to co- operate with inquiries about a scheme to invest in the Mount Eden property development. The firm is also accused of failing to supervise one of its 11 registered advisers, Martin Nicholas Bright.

Mr Bright's individual registration was suspended by Fimbra last month because of guarantees he had apparently given about the Portuguese property scheme. Fimbra also alleged that Mr Bright failed to disclose that at least seven County Court judgments had been made against him. He also appears to have dealt without authorisation in illiquid investments. No one from Wadsworth Bates was available to comment yesterday.

Fimbra has also terminated the registration of a financial adviser who used to work for DBS Financial Management.

Roy Groves Cooper, who worked in Cornwall, was found not to be fit and proper, and to have failed to deal openly with his regulator. The concerns about Mr Cooper centre on his handling of a client's building society account. Mr Cooper worked for DBS for only about two months in 1992 before the firm suspended him and passed information on to Fimbra. He was ordered to pay costs of pounds 5,580.