The watchdog has banned Robert Shaw from senior positions in the UK financial services industry.

The UK's Financial Conduct Authority has banned and handed a ÂŁ165,900 ($258,600) fine to Robert Shaw, a former director of advisory firm TailorMade Independent, for failing to adequately assess investments made through self-invested personal pensions.

The FCA said the financial benefit Shaw received from being director and shareholder of TailorMade Alternative Investments, an unregulated introducer, which referred clients to TailorMade Independent, created a conflict of interest with his duty to the business's customers.

The firm, which has stopped trading and is now in liquidation, advised customers on transferring their pension funds into unregulated investments such as green oil, farmland and overseas property via SIPPs. Between 2010 and 2013, 1,661 customers invested ÂŁ112,420,985 in such products, many of which were not permitted by their pension schemes, the regulator said. More than half of these customers invested in overseas property operated by the Harlequin group of companies, which are under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office.

“Robert Shaw exposed customers to risky investments without considering if these products would meet their needs,” said the FCA's acting director of enforcement and market oversight, Georgina Philippou. 

“In addition, he personally benefitted from sales of these products without revealing to customers the full extent of the benefits he received. His actions mean that many customers faced losing all of their hard earned pension funds. This is not the conduct we expect of senior individuals.”

Shaw failed to act when the firm's external compliance consultants warned of the need to consider conflicts of interest and disclose them to customers. 

Earlier this year, the FCA undertook enforcement action against Peter Legerton and Lloyd Pope, also formerly of TailorMade Independent, for SIPP advisory failings.