Harris has been fined £49,000 and banned from performing a compliance oversight function and from acting as a compliance officer to Julian Harris Financial Consultants and Julian Harris Mortgages Limited.
The firm has been providing independent financial advice and mortgage advice for over 19 years in the Kent region, and the FSA action is related to breaches of Principle 3 of the FSA’s Principles for Business between October 2004 and July 2010.
Within this charge, Harris also failed to employ appointed representatives that were fit and proper, did not put in place adequate training and oversight procedures and did not monitor staffs activities to ensure they complied with regulatory requirements.
In a statement the regulator said it considered the misconduct to be serious because enforcement action had been taken against Harris on two previous occasions, and because the breaches lasted for a prolonged period.
As a result of the breaches, it said new advisers were not subject to adequate vetting before being appointed and were not adequately trained or monitored after being hired.
In some cases the FSA think incompetent or unfit individuals may have been appointed and so investors could have been exposed to the risk of receiving unsuitable advice.
Harris agreed to settle the matter at an early stage of the FSA’s investigation and so qualified for a 30% discount on his fine, which would have otherwise been £70,000.
