FCA

Financial Conduct Authority (UK)

High Impact

FCA Decision Notice against Daniel Philip Thomas highlights DB pension transfer advice, AR oversight and recordkeeping risks

Published

Sep 2, 2026

Topics

Enforcement, Defined benefit pension transfers, Appointed representatives, Pension transfer specialist controls, Record retention, Fitness and propriety, Consumer protection

Executive Summary

The FCA has published a Decision Notice dated 15 August 2025 against Daniel Philip Thomas, a former approved person associated with DPT Financial Solutions Ltd and Quilter. The FCA decided to impose a £742,700 financial penalty and make a prohibition order preventing him from performing any function in relation to regulated activities. The findings remain contested because Mr Thomas has referred the matter to the Upper Tribunal; the proposed action has no effect until the Tribunal determines the reference. The FCA alleges that between 8 April 2014 and 20 September 2019 Mr Thomas gave defined benefit pension transfer advice on 63 occasions to 53 clients, including British Steel Pension Scheme members, despite not being qualified or permitted to do so. The notice also alleges misleading communications to clients, pension scheme providers and his principal firm, destruction of pension transfer advice records, and failure to co-operate with the FCA investigation. For firms, the notice is a significant supervisory signal on pension transfer permissions, Pension Transfer Specialist controls, AR oversight, fee categorisation and indefinite suitability record retention.

What Changed

newProposed individual sanction referred to Upper Tribunal

No final sanction was in force from this Decision Notice before Tribunal determination.

New

The FCA’s proposed penalty and prohibition are public but stayed pending the Tribunal reference.

newFCA findings on unauthorised DB pension transfer advice

DB transfer advice had to be given or checked by a Pension Transfer Specialist under FCA pension transfer rules.

New

The Decision Notice applies those rules to alleged unauthorised advice and treats the conduct as reckless and lacking integrity.

newRecord destruction treated as a conduct failure

COBS 9.5.2R requires suitability records relating to pension transfers to be retained indefinitely.

New

The FCA characterises destruction of such records as a failure to act with due skill, care and diligence.

newMisleading scheme-provider and principal-firm information

Pension schemes required evidence of appropriate independent advice, and principal firms relied on AR disclosures and business categorisation controls.

New

The FCA uses these facts to support findings of lack of integrity and serious consumer risk.

newFailure to co-operate with the FCA investigation

Approved persons were required to deal with the FCA openly and co-operatively under APER Statement of Principle 4.

New

The Decision Notice treats non-cooperation as an additional breach and aggravating factor in the penalty assessment.

Business Impact

Who is affected

Directly affected

FCA-authorised financial advice firms, principal firms with appointed representatives, approved persons and certified staff involved in pension transfer advice, and Pension Transfer Specialists.

Indirectly affected

pension scheme administrators, SIPP and pension providers, compliance monitoring teams, internal audit, complaints teams, and clients who received or may receive DB pension transfer advice.

Jurisdictions

United Kingdom

Business processes

Defined benefit pension transfer advice and Pension Transfer Specialist sign-off, Appointed representative onboarding, permission scoping and ongoing supervision, Suitability file creation and indefinite retention for pension transfers, Fee, commission and business-type categorisation controls, Regulatory investigation response and compelled information request handling, Complaint identification, escalation and principal-firm notification

Estimated effort

Medium

Compliance risk

High

Affected Reports

Pension transfer suitability file and indefinite retention controlPension Transfer Specialist approval or advice-check evidenceAppointed representative fit-and-proper and outside-business-interest declarationsPension transfer fee and commission categorisation reconciliationFCA information request and investigation response tracker

Field	Validation rule
Adviser qualification and Pension Transfer Specialist status	DB pension transfer advice must be given or checked by a Pension Transfer Specialist under COBS 19.1.1R/19.1.1AR as described in the Decision Notice.
Advice permission or authorisation confirmation to scheme administrators	The Decision Notice states pension scheme administrators required confirmation that the member had received appropriate independent advice from an adviser with the relevant safeguarded-benefit transfer permission.
Client name, scheme name and adviser FCA registration number	The Decision Notice records these as information required by DB scheme administrators before transfers proceeded.
Suitability record retention period	COBS 9.5.2R requires records relating to pension transfers, pension conversions, pension opt-outs or FSAVCs to be retained indefinitely.
Business or fee category for pension transfer income	The Decision Notice states Mr Thomas incorrectly categorised DB transfer-related payments as categories such as fund initial charges or personal pension rather than pension transfers.

Recommended Actions

7 suggested next steps· derived from source analysis

1
AI generatedStep 1 of 7
Perform a targeted review of DB pension transfer cases to confirm that advice was given or checked by a Pension Transfer Specialist and that evidence is retained on file.
2
AI generatedStep 2 of 7
For principal firms, reconcile AR revenue, provider commission statements and system business categories to identify any DB transfer activity recorded as another product or fee type.
3
AI generatedStep 3 of 7
Update AR oversight testing to verify that AR agreements, system permissions, training records and pre-approval workflows prevent advisers from operating outside approved scope.
4
AI generatedStep 4 of 7
Test whether suitability files for pension transfers are retained indefinitely and cannot be deleted without compliance approval and audit trail.
5
AI generatedStep 5 of 7
Review adviser declarations, outside business interests, introducer arrangements and referral fee controls for undisclosed pension transfer referral activity.
6
AI generatedStep 6 of 7
Confirm that complaints relating to pension transfers are escalated promptly to the principal firm and linked to conduct-risk monitoring.
7
AI generatedStep 7 of 7
Maintain a central log of FCA information requests and compelled requirements, with accountable owners and escalation for overdue responses.

Timeline

other

Apr 8, 2014

Start of the Relevant Period during which the FCA alleges Mr Thomas provided unauthorised defined benefit pension transfer advice and related misconduct occurred.

other

Sep 20, 2019

End of the Relevant Period; the Decision Notice states Quilter terminated its AR agreement with DPT and terminated Mr Thomas’s CF30 approval on this date.

other

Nov 4, 2022

The FCA states Mr Thomas ceased co-operating with its investigation from this date.

publication

Aug 15, 2025

Date of the FCA Decision Notice and Warning Notice against Daniel Philip Thomas.

other

Aug 15, 2025

The Decision Notice states Mr Thomas had 28 days from the date the notice was given to refer the matter to the Upper Tribunal; the FCA publication confirms the matter has been referred and the proposed action has no effect pending determination.

Sources

AI-generated analysis is based on the following primary sources. Always verify against the official publication.

Decision NoticeFinancial Conduct AuthorityAug 15, 2025
Decision Notice: Daniel Philip Thomas ↗
https://www.fca.org.uk/publication/decision-notices/daniel-philip-thomas-2026.pdf
Handbook rules and guidanceFinancial Conduct AuthorityDate not specified
FCA Handbook: COBS 19.1 Pension transfers, conversions, and opt-outs ↗
https://www.handbook.fca.org.uk/handbook/COBS/19/1.html
Handbook rulesFinancial Conduct AuthorityDate not specified
FCA Handbook: COBS 9.5 Record keeping and retention periods for suitability records ↗
https://www.handbook.fca.org.uk/handbook/COBS/9/5.html
Primary legislationUK Legislation2000
Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 ↗
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/8/contents
Primary legislationUK Legislation2015
Pension Schemes Act 2015, Section 48: Independent advice in respect of conversions and transfers ↗
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/8/section/48

Related Evidence

Verified source support for this analysis

The evidence agent checks whether the drafted finding is supported by official publications and relevant public source material.

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