Gina and Alan Miller’s firm SCM Direct has accused the Investment Association of being “conflicted” and defending “dodgy practices” following the UK trade body’s decision to complain to the BBC about its Panorama probe into Neil Woodford.
On Thursday afternoon a report emerged that the IA had lodged a complaint to the BBC about its 30-minute exposé that aired on 21 October and split opinion with its portrayal of the demise of Woodford’s fund empire.
Shortly after, SCM Direct, the wealth management firm co-founded by the Millers, was calling the IA out on its Twitter account.
“The Investment Association is so conflicted,” it said. “Instead of reforming dodgy practises in the UK industry, they defend it, regardless of how ordinary investors are treated.”
‘Defending the indefensible’
Miller (pictured) later expanded on the comments, telling Portfolio Adviser that the IA’s actions would serve to further damage public opinion of the financial services industry.
She said: “The Investment Association thinks by defending the indefensible whenever there is any criticism levied against any fund manager, no matter how justified it might be, is serving the interest of their members and the wider UK investment industry. In my opinion, it does the exact opposite.
“The IA would be better placed aiming to restore trust in the industry by showing that both itself and the industry are willing to learn from mistakes, such as the reasons behind the catastrophic failure of the Woodford fund, and show that it has investors’ best interests at heart, rather than burying their heads and allowing the trust deficit to deepen.”
The damage has been done
City Hive founder Bev Shah, who appeared as one of the talking heads in the BBC Panorama programme, didn’t see anything wrong with the IA lodging a complaint against the BBC.
“They have every right as the industry trade body to lodge a complaint and of course it is understandable given how damaging the programme was on our entire industry,” she said.
“But I am not sure what a complaint will do – the damage has been done,” Shah added.
She thinks the industry would make better use of its time by collectively focusing on trying to build back the trust it has lost.
“It is imperative we do that for the sake of the financial health of the people we should be serving. A 40% gender pension gap just shows we have not been doing that.”
BBC to respond in due course
A spokesperson for the BBC News press team told Portfolio Adviser it had received the letter from the IA and would be responding in due course.
The IA declined to respond to the tweet from SCM Direct.
A spokesperson for the industry trade body said: “Fund customers have the right to expect the highest standards from fund managers. When things go wrong, we need to understand why.
“The IA and firms across the industry are committed to an open dialogue with regulators and other stakeholders to ensure that any lessons are learned and that customers can feel wholly confident in long-term investment.”
