UK FSCS continues to investigate activities of Direct Market Touch
The investigation is focused on DMT’s trading activity and how this may have affected DMT customers.
The UK Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) has informed customers of Direct Market Touch (DMT) that its investigation into the firm’s activities is ongoing.
The investigation is focused on DMT’s trading activity and how this may have affected DMT customers. FSCS has spoken with external bodies including Hallbrook Partners Ltd, the FCA and Insolvency Practitioner, Kallis & Co who remain engaged in helping with FSCS’s investigation.
As a result, FSCS is still in the process of obtaining information and documents to help with the investigation. The body promises to make a further update in due course.
Direct Market Touch offered stockbroking/trading opportunities to investors, concentrating in the Plus/ISDX/Nex Exchange markets.
FSCS explains that customers have made various allegations against this firm. These allegations centre on its operating methods and include:
- anomalies in trading and reporting,
- concerns on the suitability of risk profiling.
Also, DMT appears to have placed a high concentration of transactions into a small number of companies with the same directors. This has raised potential concerns around conflicts of interest.
FSCS is currently accepting claims against DMT, although these have not yet been passed to the claims teams for assessment. Firstly, the body needs to establish whether there are valid claims against DMT. For this to happen FSCS needs to know that DMT owes a civil liability to customers that would enable the firm to be sued in court.
