Devere Group Financial Advisor Reviews and Complaints

I moved my small QROPS of £58000 and 5 years later in a period of financial growth of about 10% per year I made a loss and they took £6250 in fees. How can this be legitimate.

So disappointed and a little angry. Trust once lost is never recovered.

In 2010, my wife and I received a request from the DeVere representative handling the account to switch a significant part of the mutual funds we had to a group of new funds. This included allocating a quarter of the proceeds to the Strategic Growth Fund.

Three years later, came the debacle which over the last 4 years became a disaster, as it is now almost sure that we have no chance of money recovery. Therefore, under the advice of DeVere, we lost at least a quarter of our savings.

We have contacted DeVere officially, and their response has been simply shocking, denying first any involvement from DeVere, and when confronted with the facts, recommending to seek legal advice !!!

I have had an uphill battle with this company without any light at the end of the tunnel. My investment advisor has provided absolutely no advice, my investments have depreciated by over 50% over a period of 10 years and the only solution is to withdraw the funds and take the loss.

Unfortunately the small print says that the funds will only be released once the investments have been sold. So for the next 10 years or so, the management fees and commissions will be paid until I suppose the investment ceases to exist. They should be strung up and shot for manoeuvring behind the smoke and mirrors of their marketing lies. I have subsequently been told that my financial advisor was thrown out of Qatar and the UAE, imprisoned in Oman and has left the company.

Through other avenues, I discovered that he still works for the same company but behind a connect "separate" entity. Perhaps all the people that have been fleeced by this company should pay a personal visit to their offices.

I had as many as 6 advisors and each of them does not recognise the mistakes made by the prvios one.

The customers compliance office in itself dos tel lies, claiming that my pension investment was in profit when in fact it was in a large loss and suspended but deVere is still in denial.

Come on DeVere owe up to your responsibilities and not just give boastful answers

qrops de vere did not declare the biggest fees and the advisor by his own admission did not know of the spreads , initial fees that The trustee applied . the 30 day cooling off period in reality was 9 days had it been sent. In reality it was sent by email 60 days after the 30 day cooling off period expired. in addition the De Vere advisor falsified my signature no less than 3 times.

De Vere response to that statement was that a international handwriting expert was required

Total loss 11,000 in 30 months, compliance seemed not existent

Nor was the DE VERE advisor truly independent in that he had only high charging funds to choose from

Colin Kneale, a senior partner with deVere Group (Geneva) called me in August 2010, telling me he understood I was a British citizen now resident in Switzerland.

He asked whether I had pension savings back in the UK and, if so, with how many different institutions. I confirmed that I did, and explained these funds were spread across four different funds.

He then told me that I could benefit from the QROPS programme, established by law in the UK in 2006, which allowed UK citizens no longer resident in the UK to move their pension savings into offshore accounts that met specific criteria. He explained that by doing this, I could consolidate those various savings into a single account, making things easier to manage and make my money “work harder”.

I agreed to meet him to discuss.

At that meeting, he asked me to provide details of my UK pension accounts and to sign a letter authorising him to act on my behalf. I did this.

A few months later, he told me that my UK pension funds had been consolidated and had a total value of £154,947.

He then asked what level of risk I was willing to take with those funds and I explained, several times, that as these were my pension savings, my appetite for risk was very low.

Colin recommended a plan with Providence Capital, the trustees of which were Sovereign Trust Limited. He assured me this investment was low risk, ideal for pensions as it would ensure the funds kept pace with inflation. The fund was established in February 2011. Of the £154,947, Providence Capital invested £153,197 in a bond with Royal Skandia International and deducted £1,750 for first year Trustee fees.

Royal Skandia subsequently invested those funds in Four Elements Strategic Growth Plus securities.

In March 2012 I received a valuation of the fund for year end 2011 which showed a slight decline to £145,684. At the end of 2012, the fund had reduced to £134,130 . At the end of 2013, the valuation was £109,087. At no time did anyone from deVere advise me to move my funds elsewhere. By the time I received the 2013 statement and sought to do so, I was told the account had been frozen. Today, it appears there is virtually no hope of recovering any of my savings.

Given that (a) this entire event was prompted by an unsolicited call from a deVere agent, (b) I gave specific instruction that the investment vehicle for my pension savings be low risk and (c) at no time did deVere advise me to move the fund's elsewhere (advice that was offered to other clients), I believe deVere has failed in its duty of care. I would therefore ask the company to restore my pension fund to its start value, as defined in the annual valuation certificate I receive from Sovereign Trust.

Many thanks