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Times
an hour ago
- Times
Financial Ombudsman Service boss paid £230,000 after ousting
The ousted head of the Financial Ombudsman Service received a pay-off of almost £230,000, it has been disclosed in the annual report. Abby Thomas, who left abruptly on 6 February, was paid £229,869 in severance payments on top of her normal salary. The payoff included £100,000 for loss of office, £107,692 in lieu of notice and £22,177 for a period of gardening leave that began on the day she left, the FOS said. MPs on the Treasury select committee have hit out at the manner of her departure and criticised the FOS chairwoman Baroness Manzoor for refusing to answer questions on why Thomas left and whether she was forced out. The FOS, which rules on complaints by consumers about financial services firms and can set compensation orders, is under pressure to reform. Rachel Reeves has pledged to curb its powers so it no longer acts like a regulator after complaints from the industry that it has increased the cost of 'mass redress events'. It has been dealing with a significant rise in claims, mainly related to car finance loans, but also because of concerns about other consumer loans and more people complaining about banks' handling of frauds. Dame Meg Hillier, chairwoman of the Treasury committee, said this month: 'The handling of this situation by the senior leadership has been deeply disappointing.' Thomas, a former Virgin Media executive, served for less than three years. She has been replaced by James Dipple-Johnstone as chief ombudsman and Jenny Simmonds as interim chief executive. Manzoor is due to retire on August 1. The FOS received 450,000 new inquiries in the year to March, up from 330,000. The motor finance industry is braced for a judgment from the Supreme Court this Friday that could determine the scale of compensation payments for failing to disclose commissions paid to dealers.
Times
an hour ago
- Times
NatWest faces questions over links to collapsed 79th Group
NatWest is facing scrutiny over its relationship with a collapsed £200 million investment group which insolvency practitioners suspect was a Ponzi scheme. 79th Group attracted thousands of investors from the UK and overseas, before collapsing into administration in April, two months after the City of London police announced an investigation into a 'suspected widespread fraud'. The company has denied wrongdoing. Insolvency practitioners estimate 79th Group owes more than £200 million to about 3,700 people. Some investors have life savings at risk. The matter was raised in parliament this month. The 'main account' of the group was held at NatWest, according to administrators from Kroll and Quantuma. It is understood that the relationship originated at the bank's Southport branch, which is near 79th Group's Merseyside head office. The bank also holds an outstanding charge over a 79th Group entity which was first registered 20 years ago. That company went into insolvency in May. Investors' funds were paid into a 'treasury account [and then] transferred out to other entities', administrators said in a recent report to creditors. They are investigating the 'flow of funds'. Investors' money does not appear to have been 'ring-fenced' and was instead 'pooled' in group accounts. No formal loan accounts appear to have been recorded or board minutes yet identified relating to the management of investors' money, insolvency practitioners have claimed. The bank declined to answer a series of questions over its banking relationship with 79th Group, including how much money was received and processed by the bank; whether it had continued to receive investor funds after the arrests; whether it had failed to detect serious irregularities; and whether NatWest was investigating. A NatWest spokeswoman said: 'Combating fraud is a top priority and we are committed to preventing criminal activity. We will not make any further comment on this case.' Contractual agreements between the group and investors stated that funds would be used for specific projects, including a £250 million holiday park in north Wales and a mining venture. City of London police said in February that four people had been arrested and that 'a large amount of cash, luxury watches and jewellery were found during searches of properties, all of which were seized'. All people arrested have been released on bail and inquiries continue. There have been no charges. The Times reported this month that 79th Group's board included a former senior HM Revenue & Customs official who was in charge of combating fraud for the tax office. Andy Cole, former director of specialist investigations at HMRC, was a non-executive adviser. There is no suggestion of wrongdoing by Cole or that he is being investigated. He has not been arrested. Administrators from Grant Thornton have told 79th Group investors that 'we believe this is a Ponzi', the term for a fraudulent investment scheme in which early investors are paid with money from later investors rather than legitimate business activities. Banks have a regulatory duty to counter the risk that they might be used to further financial crime. Lenders face strict 'know your customer' and anti-money laundering rules; adherence requires due diligence, transaction monitoring and reporting of suspicious activity. Three sets of insolvency firms are engaged on the case. Administrators are liaising with NatWest over the outstanding charge owed to the bank, which has said it is not in a position to release it, according to its report. In 2021, NatWest was fined £264.8 million for anti-money laundering failures related to the gold trading business Fowler Oldfield. This month Barclays was fined £39.3 million for failing to tackle financial crime risks in its dealings with Stunt & Co, which received £46.8 million from Fowler Oldfield.
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
Taser trial for prison staff to tackle violence behind bars
Specially trained staff in male prisons in England and Wales will be issued with Tasers as part of a new trial to clamp down on pilot comes as new figures obtained by the BBC show more than £20m has been paid out in damages over five years to staff and prisoners who have been say they will look at whether the electric stun guns should be more widely used after the trial this Prison Officers' Association (POA) said the cost of the "intolerable" levels of violence was an issue the government needed to tackle with a sense of urgency and the use of Tasers was long overdue. Speaking after watching a demonstration of the technology at a training facility in Oxfordshire, Lord Chancellor and Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood said the government would not allow jails to be controlled by fear or disorder."We're already rolling out protective body armour and by trialling Tasers we're making sure staff have the tools they need to keep themselves safe." Mark Fairhurst, national chairman of the POA, said: "Prisons have been overcrowded for decades, which leads to a lack of activity spaces for prisoners leading to boredom, drug abuse and violence."Staff must be equipped with the personal protective equipment they need to quell violence and prevent life-changing injuries."The Tasers will be issued to a specialist national unit, which will respond to complex and serious incidents in men's prisons where there is a risk to safety, including hostage situations and riots. Severe PTSD after attack The intervention follows an attack on three prison officers in April at HMP Frankland in County officer Claire Lewis, who is still affected by severe PTSD after being stabbed by a prisoner 15 years ago, is welcoming the Taser roll-out in limited said: "Tasers are a great piece of kit, however, only in an environment whereby it's a planned extraction or if there's an assault on a wing." Ms Lewis, who also worked at HMP Frankland, is campaigning for all officers to have stab-proof vests. "If I'd have got a vest on when I was attacked, I would not have received the serious injury I did to my back - it narrowly missed my spinal cord." The latest Ministry of Justice figures showed the number of staff assaulted in adult prisons across England and Wales hit a new peak last 2020 and 2024 there were 334 compensation claims for prisoner-on-prisoner assaults, 232 prisoner-on-staff cases and 104 claims of staff assaulting inmates, according to a BBC freedom of information - not her real name - a former prison worker in south-east England, said: "They used to use snooker balls in socks, now they use full cans of drinks in socks to attack each other,"They make knives out of tuna cans. I did see an officer get kettled, which means hot water thrown over him."The Prison Service says it is also ramping up the number of full lockdown searches in high-security jails to stop more of the contraband which fuels violence behind month anti-drone measures such as new netting and reinforced windows were announced. President of the Prison Governors' Association Tom Wheatley backed the Taser trial for specialist officers, but not a wider roll-out to staff."If they were issued to all officers on a daily basis, it could carry additional risk," he said."Certainly not issued more generally, because they form a threat item, so if somebody managed to get a Taser off a member of staff, that would be a real concern to us."
