Link faces £50m fine over Woodford fund’s collapse
The UK firm that managed Neil Woodford’s flagship investment fund is facing a £50m fine over its running of the fund before its collapse in 2019.
The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has issued a draft warning notice against Link Fund Solutions Ltd (LFS) indicating it could be forced to pay £306m in costs and a £50m fine.
LFS – a subsidiary of Australian firm Link Group – managed the LF Woodford Equity Income Fund (WEIF) before it was suspended from trading three years ago.
LFS now has 14 days to respond to the FCA’s notice, by either challenging the FCA’s findings or settling the case.
The notice comes after the FCA launched an investigation into Link in June 2019 following the liquidation of the star trader’s multi-billion-pound fund.
The FCA has faced mounting pressure to deal with the fallout of the fund’s collapse, after thousands of small investors lost money, in one of the UK’s biggest investment scandals in decades.
LFS held responsibility for ensuring the Woodford’s fund was being run in line with industry rules and that investors’ interests were being protected.