By James Simons-
A company director has been disqualified for 12 years after he failed to meet regulatory requirements for customer treatment, the Insolvency Service revealed on Wednesday.
Delroy Anthony Roberts from Birmingham, was a director of three debt management companies: Haydon Associates Debt Management Consultants Limited, Sterling Financial Security Limited and Clear View Finance Limited.
Roberts was appointed a director of each of the companies, between January 2012 and March 2013, and all three held approved licences to provide consumer credit activities. However, during Delroy Roberts’ tenure the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) received several complaints which the now disqualified company director failed to correct.
Customers complained they had been denied updates about changes to their debt plans, and that despite making regular payments, the money owed to their creditors went unregistered. creditors were not paid the full amount oed and on occasions, they were not paid at all.
After a majority of these complaints were upheld, the three companies were ordered by the FOS to refund the customers. Although, some customers were refunded, other customers were not compensated. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) also issued warnings to Delroy Roberts, but he failed to comply with the warnings to ensure the three companies adhered to regulated guidance, the companies did not provide written statements to customers setting out their debt positions and they also failed to provide information about customers to the FCA.
The three companies entered into liquidation in December 2015 following the issues with the FCA, as well as experiencing financial difficulties. Not only did existing customers leave the three companies but Delroy Roberts had also agreed with the FCA that the debt management companies would not enter into any new contractual arrangements and as a result, had not generated any new income.
In July 2018, the Secretary of State accepted a disqualification undertaking from Delroy Roberts after he did not dispute that he had failed to ensure that the three debt management companies complied with requirements by the Financial Conduct Authority.
Effective from 6 August 2018, Delroy Roberts has been now banned for 12 years from directly or indirectly becoming involved, without the permission of the court, in the promotion, formation or management of a company.
Anthea Simpson, Chief Investigator for the Insolvency Service, said:
People who turn to debt management companies are often in need of urgent help with no-where else to turn to but Delroy Roberts failed to provide an adequate service to his customers.
Delroy Roberts is banned from running companies for over a decade and this should send a clear warning to other directors that if they run a business in a way that is detrimental to either its customers or its creditors then we will take strong action against them.