FCA bans former Vector Wealth chief executive after £4m mini-bond losses

Jeffrey Dawkins misled the Financial Conduct Authority by claiming he still controlled Vector Wealth after selling it, allowing a disqualified director to use the firm’s regulated status to promote high-risk bonds.

Around 40 customers are expected to lose about £4 million after investing in bonds issued by Vector Wealth Ltd — a firm whose FCA authorisation did not cover the mini-bond products it was promoting. The Financial Conduct Authority has now permanently banned Jeffrey Dawkins, the company’s former chief executive, from performing regulated financial services activities.

The FCA found that Dawkins falsely told the regulator he remained in control of Vector Wealth after selling the company in 2019. That claim, according to the FCA, allowed a disqualified director to run the firm behind the scenes and use its authorised status to make the bonds appear safer than they were. Vector Wealth’s FCA reference number was 578178; the register now records it as no longer authorised from 28 January 2025.

The bonds in question were marketed as an “Absolute Return Forex Bond”, with proceeds intended to generate returns through foreign-exchange trading. Investors were reportedly not properly warned about the risks and were asked to confirm they were high-net-worth or sophisticated investors — a classification the FCA permanently banned firms from using to promote speculative mini-bonds to retail consumers from 1 January 2021.

Kadir Kanizi, a former senior manager at Vector Wealth, was also identified in connection with the promotion of the bonds and banned from senior management roles.

The compensation picture is bleak for those who lost money. The Financial Services Compensation Scheme said that ordinary failure to repay the mini-bonds was unlikely, by itself, to qualify for compensation — because issuing mini-bonds was not itself a regulated activity. The FSCS indicated it was investigating whether any related regulated investment services could qualify, but offered no guarantee.

Vector Wealth applied to enter administration in April 2022 after directors concluded the company was insolvent. The FCA had imposed restrictions on the firm in February 2022, stopping regulated activities and unregulated activity relating to unlisted bonds without prior consent. The case is a reminder that a firm holding FCA authorisation does not mean every product it promotes falls under that regulatory umbrella — or that investors are protected if things go wrong.