Liability issues relating to financial service-providers

Dynamic as they are, the financial markets offer a wealth of opportunities for both businesses and private individuals. However, with opportunity comes risk. So, if you are thinking about buying and selling products on a financial market, it’s absolutely vital to seek expert advice and to make sure that you are fully informed about the potential risks. It’s your money, after all, which is why you must be confident that the financial service-providers you are dealing with – people such as investment advisers, asset managers and banks, all of whom have more experience and expertise than you do – are serious about the duty of care they owe their customers and that they are acting act in your best interests.

Unfortunately, our experience is that many financial service-providers fail both to offer good advice and to fulfil their duty of care. Indeed, we have seen countless examples of trading orders not being performed or not being performed on the agreed date, failures to take account of customers’ risk profiles, and financial products that do not offer the degree of flexibility required by the customer. In short, this means risks materialising out of the blue and causing major financial distress. These are unacceptable risks for which customers had not been prepared.

The basic rule is that a financial service-provider should align its services with your experience and knowledge. However, you can be pretty sure that, if a situation arises in which a financial service-provider fails to fully inform you about the risks and features associated with a particular product they have recommended, they will refuse to accept any responsibility for their actions. When things go wrong, financial service-providers have a tendency to hide behind the small print and tell you that, as the customer, you have your own responsibility to bear. But a duty of care is more than just reassuring rhetoric. It actually means something, especially when things go wrong.

Have you been properly and fully informed by your financial service-provider?

Our specialist lawyers have plenty of practical experience in advising and litigating on matters relating to the duty of care imposed on suppliers of financial services. We can give you practical advice and suggest effective solutions. Our overriding aim is to place you in the position you would have been in if you had been properly informed and/or if you had received adequate service from your financial service-provider. If necessary, we will not hesitate to go to court to bring this about.