Peter Sprung fined and banned by CII

The Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) has banned Peter Sprung from membership for five years and ordered him to pay a fine.

It follows an independent CII investigation into Sprung after the former Park Row CEO was fined and banned by the FSA for his part in the failure of the national IFA last year.

The CII says Sprung, who holds a DipPFS from the professional body, will have to pay legal costs arising from the investigation as well as an undisclosed fine.

Its probe followed alleged breach of terms of membership by Sprung following the regulator's disciplinary action against him.

In February, the FSA banned him from taking senior positions for five years, including exercising any significant influence function in relation to Park Row, and fined him £49,000 for his role in the collapse of the IFA arm of Royal Liver.

Sprung called a hearing to defend himself against the CII's charges that he had failed to uphold the Institute's code of ethics.

CII spokesperson David Ross says: "There are certain requirements and obligations on members.

"One purpose of the CII is to secure and justify members actions to the public. In light of the FSA's investigation, Peter's actions were in direct conflict with that."

In a statement issued today, the CII says the seriousness of the FSA's action in relation to Sprung's conduct whilst a director and chief executive of Park Row Associates Ltd between January 2007 and January 2009, led the CII's disciplinary panel to ordered that he be banned from membership for a period of five years.

The majority of the CII's disciplinary committee are Institute members. All are current financial services practitioners, and no CII staff sit on the committee.

In February the FSA said ongoing concerns about the amount of unsuitable pension advice written at Leeds-based Park Row were at the heart of its action against the company.

A quarter of cases written by the company's advisers continued to be "unsuitable" despite warnings going back more than two years, the FSA's final notice said.

The firm was ordered to pay customer redress estimated at between £5m and £7.8m. Sprung was fined seperately.

In May, a band of 28 ex-Park Row advisers launched legal proceedings against their former employer, claiming thousands of pounds in compensation for loss of earnings after they had their permissions revoked by the FSA following the wind-down of the firm.

The advisers claim the loss of their permissions is a direct result of Park Row's failure to maintain proper compliance checks and processes

None of the 28 individuals have been able to service customers since 13 November 2009 when the IFA arm of Royal Liver fell into insolvency, and the FSA cancelled the advisers' approved person status.