Collapsed Sipp administrator GPC Sipp has nearly £1m in debts owed to creditors according to a statement of affairs document published on Companies House.
It shows there is a shortfall of £964,832.00 owed to creditors and most of the Sipp shares are owned by managing director Kathryn Taylor who holds 73 shares.
The others are owned by current or former staff of GPC Sipp and Guardian Pension Trustees Limited.
The accounts made up to 27 February 2018 show GPC Sipp had equity worth nearly £1.8m.
They also showed that on 19 November 2018, Taylor had £1m transferred to her directors loan account in the form of a “dividend”.
GPC Sipp specialises in the provision of technical and administration services to Guardian Pension Trustees Limited, which acts as the corporate trustee of Sipps and SSASs.
It administers around 3,200 Sipps and around 50 SSASs, with a total investment value of roughly £130m.
Adam Stephens and Henry Shinners of Smith and Williamson were appointed as joint administrators of GPC with the consent of the FCA on 11 June 2019.
It was sold to Hartley Pensions for an undisclosed sum in a deal completed on 12 August with transfers of the Sipp and SSASs books to Hartley.
Commenting on the statement of affairs document, Hurley Partners pensions director Martin Tilley says: “It’s a sharp contrast against the accounts that were filed for Feb 2018 which showed a company with a total equity value of close to £1.8m.
“Capital adequacy for FCA’s purposes must have been continually satisfied by debtors as the firm had few other assets.
“It’s a key sign that advisers using Sipp providers must have a thorough understanding of the provider’s finances as face value of accounts showing solvency is no sign of the issues going on behind the scenes.
“Independent evaluations, such as those undertaken by AKG Financial Analytics or previously by Finalytiq should be a pre-requisite. The problem being that Sipp firms undertake these assessments voluntarily, so those with dubious credentials are unlikely to want this level of scrutiny. Advisers should also look for openly offered due diligence documents referencing financial strength.”
Taylor was not available for comment at the time of publication.
Article by Michael Klimes - Money Marketing