Directors exit as Rockingham fails to file accounts

Questions have been raised over pension provider Rockingham Group Plc, after a first strike-off notice from Companies House was posted in January.

Director Stephen Hunt departed on 26 January, following Gary Forster, who left on 28 September.

The company, which includes the subsidiaries Rockingham Independent, Rockingham Retirement and SIPP Administration Services, has not filed accounts since March 2010.

Accounts for the year ending 31 March 2011 were due on 30 September, but failed to be delivered.

A strike-off notice usually gives a company three months to file accounts, before removal from the register.

Julie Faver, a director of Rockingham Retirement, said there was "no malice" behind the strike-off notice.

However, given the number of complaints against the firm, and an FSA notice which requires redress to be paid to customers, it is rumoured auditors Stephenson Smart & Co may be unable to sign off the accounts as a going concern.

Rockingham Independent was fined £35,000 by the FSA in September 2011 for the sale of "unsuitable" products to 426 elderly customers, along with sanctions on Hunt, Forster and fellow director Jonathan Edwards.

Chief among the products was the sale of the ARM Asset Backed Securities (ARM) life settlement fund, that invested in death bonds which did not provide a capital guarantee.

Dealings in the £196m fund were suspended in August 2011, leaving some investors with 100% of their assets frozen.

Customers with the company were hopeful that a deal with life settlement specialist Insetco would be reached to buy the fund.

However a statement posted by ARM on Friday revealed the proposed deal had lapsed on 30 November, and "a small number of other offers" had yet to materialise.

Despite their FSA bans, in December Hunt and Forster registered a new advisory firm, Investing for Income, at Companies House.

In a directors' report from March 2010, Rockingham said 09/10 had been "a challenging but rewarding year". The company completed the transfer of "several hundred" SIPPs from Pointon York, which was expected to generate £1m in revenue by 2020.

Investors are believed to be writing to the Registrar of Companies, Gareth Jones, to contest the strike-off of the company, which may affect any future pay-outs for miss-selling.

Hunt, Edwards and Forster could not be reached for comment.