Neil Woodford and the company face around £ 46m

Former star fund manager Neil Woodford and his investment firm face a fine from Financial Watchdog about £ 46 meters.

Some 300,000 people lost when Woodford Equity Income Fund collapsed in 2019, when investors tried to withdraw money faster than paying funds.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has decided to fix Mr. Woodford by fixing around £ 6M and keeping senior manager roles and banning funds for non-professional investors. It has decided to fix its funds, Woodford Investment Management (WIM), £ 40M.

Vim said that it disagrees with the decision of the FCA and intends to appeal, which means that all the FCA conclusions are not final.

Once a high-up city fund manager, Mr. Woodford, was described as a person who made Central England Rich and replied to the Britain’s Warren Buffet.

He made his name in 2013 before going to the establishment of his company in 2013 before the fund management veteran.

He was close to a domestic name in the investment world and people piled into its lead UK Equity Income Fund. At its peak, it had the money of £ 10bn people.

The Woodford Equity Income Fund (WEIF) was managed by Mr. Woodford and Wim, but was suspended in June 2019, which means the investors, most of whom were ordinary retail investors, were unable to catch their money.

The fund had fallen from high to 10.1bn to a price from high in May 2017, which had increased to £ 3.6bn in its suspension.

The FCA stated that Vim and Mr. Woodford made “unfair and unfair investment decisions” between July 2018 and June 2019.

Watchdog said he had sold liquid investment, which was easy to sell, and bought those who were difficult to sell.

As a result, only 8% of the investment could be sold within seven days when the company was suspended – investors should have been able to receive their money within four days.

According to FCA, WIM and Mr. Woodford “did not react properly with the decline in the funds, its liquidity deteriorated and more investors withdrew their money”.

“These disadvantaged investors who remained in the fund, compared to those who suspended the fund.”

Steve Smart, Joint Executive Director of Enforcement and Market Inspection at FCA said: “Very minimalist investors should expect that they take wisely decisions managing their money and take their senior role seriously.”

“Neither Neel Woodford nor Woodford Investment Management did this, put risking people with whom people assigned to him.”

In a statement, Wim said that Mr. Woodford managed the WEIF according to the liquidity structure set by the separate company Link Fund Solutions (LFS) in charge of the liquidity of the fund.

It said that this structure was “fully visible to the FCA, who never objected to it”.

“It was never an indication that the FCA considered the management of funds inappropriate or inappropriate,” Vim said.

“The exact cause of investor deficit”, Wim said, the link was to liquid the fund in October 2019, which was suspended.

During the suspension period, Sri Woodford Funds were “actively restructured” and came up with a plan, which “could support a managed re -opening of the fund”, the statement continued.

In October 2023, the Weston Group acquired the Irish and UK businesses of the LFS. Weston has been approached for comment.

In April 2024, the FCA found that in its management of the LFS Vaf, “failed to work with proper skills, care and diligence.

Both WIM and Mr. Woodford said that they were “very sympathetic to their investors who were influenced by suspension, and who suffered financial losses after the liquidation of the fund”.

“However, they believe that any damage was faced and was a product of bad decisions made by the link after suspension, which was maintained by the regulator.”