Campaigner Gina Miller has doubled down on calls for the Treasury Select Committee to investigate the collapse of Neil Woodford’s fund empire as the fallen manager mounts a comeback and the Financial Conduct Authority remains tight-lipped on its own probe.
Woodford found himself back in the headlines over the weekend after revealing plans to launch a Jersey-based investment company 16 months after the implosion of his funds business and while over 300,000 investors remain trapped in his Equity Income fund with no clear timeline on when they will get their money back.
His dramatic comeback to investment management was met with scathing criticism, including from Miller who said the disgraced manager should be “barred from managing money” until the investigation into the implosion of his fund has concluded. She also took aim at the FCA for failing to hold anyone to account for the scandal and urged the TSC to “put an end to this farce”.
Now Miller (pictured right) and her husband Alan (pictured left) have written an open letter to the Treasury committee, calling for an independent probe “along the lines of the London Capital & Finance and Connaught investigations”.
Woodford comeback ‘makes a complete mockery’ of the SM&CR
The Millers, who co-founded the True & Fair Campaign, said Woodford and the FCA’s actions “discredit both the regulator, and the entire UK financial services sector at a time when trust in the sector has rarely been more crucial”.
They said it was “shameful” that the regulator has allowed Woodford to remain as an authorised person on its register “whilst its investigation meanders on” and “makes a complete mockery” of its Senior Managers & Certification Regime.
“We believe it ought to be a very serious source of public policy concern that high profile individuals such as Mr Woodford can be allowed to re-commence trading, with the slate ostensibly wiped clean, when over 300,000 people, some of whom may be your own constituents, are scrabbling to make ends meet after seeing their life savings decimated and their prudent actions and hopes for a secure and comfortable future suddenly and unexpectedly dashed.”
FCA findings will be ‘woefully late and utterly meaningless’
The FCA did not respond to Portfolio Adviser’s request for comment.
The City watchdog announced it was looking into the suspension of the £3.7bn Woodford Equity Income fund on 19 June 2019. But almost 20 months since the investigation began “a conclusion to its deliberation does not appear to be in sight,” the Millers said.
While the regulator is examining authorised corporate director Link Fund Solutions’ role in the fund’s downfall, the Millers note it has failed to consider Hargreaves Lansdown, which promoted the fund heavily on its best buy lists despite misgivings over liquidity, or its own conduct in the affair.
See also: FCA accused of lacking bite as it fails to hold anyone to account for Woodford scandal
“This is nothing short of an insult to the hundreds of thousands of small investors whose lives have been turned upside down, many of which have lost their life savings,” they continued.
“The narrow scope of the investigation and its lateness makes any findings the FCA now comes up with woefully late and utterly meaningless.”
