Former debt management directors have been banned by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for dishonestly misappropriating client money. The watchdog last month published details of how the directors of First Step Finance, a company now dissolved, left 4,000 of their customers with combined losses of more than £6m. First Step Finance was run by Adrian and Christine Whitehurst between 2007 and 2013 before their licence was revoked by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) in 2013. The OFT found the company had deceitful, oppressive, improper and unfair business practices. After discovering this information, the FCA has banned the Whitehursts from any involvement in regulated financial services activity and referred them to the City of London Police, who are considering the matter.


The FCA said First Step’s clients were largely vulnerable individuals who went to the firm for help to pay off their debts. The firm told customers that it would build a pot of money for each customer and that it would use this pot to make a full and final settlement of their debts with the customer’s creditors.

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