FSCS increases payout on London Capital & Finance plc to £20M
The UK Financial Services Compensation Scheme ((FSCS) has announced that it has now issued 1,295 decisions and paid out just over £20 million in compensation to former customers of bankrupt London Capital & Finance plc (LCF). The FSCS said that this represents close to a 50% increase in the amount it has paid out since last month.
The FSCS stated that it still has a lot of claims to review, and wants to reassure LCF customers that this remains a high priority for it and that it is working to pay customers as quickly as possible.
One of the things it has been doing to help speed up this process is increasing the size of the specialist team set up to review LCF claims by nearly 80%. Because of the amount of data the FSCS needs to review, it does not expect to complete this process before the end of December.
The FSCS said that it knows that this is an extremely difficult time for LCF customers, and it appreciates customers’ patience while it continues its review of LCF claims.
London Capital & Finance plc went into administration on January 30, 2019.
The FSCS exists to protect customers of financial services firms that have failed. It is funded by levies that authorised financial services firms pay. In 2018-2019 it paid out £473 million to 425,760 customers of failed firms. The FSCS was set up in 2001 under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, and remains independent of the government and financial services industry. Investors are protected up to losses of £85,000 under the FSCS.