Cover-up broker banned and fined
Updated on 30 September 2008
A mortgage broker has been banned and fined £100,000 for exposing 1,500 customers to the risk that they took out unsuitable mortgages, the City watchdog said.
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) said Stephen Jones, who was senior partner of Rhyl-based Jones & Poole Independent Mortgage Specialists, had failed to ensure mortgages that he recommended were affordable.
The regulator said he did not keep records of customers' income and expenditure, but instead relied on general and undocumented discussions with them.
It also found that before a visit from its staff, Mr Jones got his customers to sign and back date retrospective documents for sales that had already gone through, so that it would appear the correct documents had been filled in at the time.
Mr Jones' junior partner in the firm, Simon Poole, who ran the partnership's office in Chester, was also fined £7,000 for exposing 750 clients to the risk of taking out unsuitable mortgages.
The FSA said Mr Jones had failed to control his business effectively or to make sure that it met regulatory requirements and he failed to treat customers fairly when recommending mortgages.
He also provided a lender with false information about his own income when he was applying for a mortgage.
The FSA also announced that it had censured two directors of Lifestyle Finance Limited, a Rotherham-based mortgage broker, for failing to ensure customers taking out home loans were given suitable advice.
It said Michael Worthington and Darren Millington failed to ensure the firm had appropriate written sales and compliance procedures, while they also failed to make sure their compliance department had sufficient experience and qualified staff.
In addition, they did not complete a review of past business within a reasonable timescale, meaning they could not identify customers who may have been mis-sold mortgages in the past and were therefore entitled to compensation.
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