Three insurance fraudsters hit with FSA ban
THREE insurance professionals were banned from operating in financial services by the City regulator yesterday for taking part in a £2m fraud over an extended period.
Timothy Higgins, Clifford Felstead and Ralph Brunswick were involved in a scam to cheat the Market International Insurance Company (Markel), QBE Insurance and Amalfi Underwriting, which exposed the victims to heavy losses, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) said.
Higgins – with the help of Felstead – ran Surety Guarantee Consultants (SGC), a company established in 2005 to write surety bonds. SGC held arrangements with Markel and QBE through its agent Amalfi to issue the bonds but secretly exceeded its authorised limits, leaving them open to greater liabilities than previously agreed. SGC pocketed a secret £2m profit which should have been paid to the insurers. Brunswick provided false documents to help hide the arrangement from auditors.
Margaret Cole, FSA director of enforcement, said: “All three of these men fell woefully short of the standards expected of them.”
Higgins would have been fined £600,000, but is bankrupt. Brunswick was also struck off as a director.