Warrington-based LJ Financial Planning has been fined £107,200 by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for providing its customers with unsuitable pension switching and transfer advice and failing to manage its conflicts of interest.

The XPS Pensions’ Transfer Watch monitoring service has flagged up 64% of recent pension transfers as showing signs of a potential scam, a record number.

The Personal Finance Society has welcomed the FCA’s adviser sector study published yesterday showing rising financial adviser numbers but warned there are still too few advisers to meet demand and soaring PI insurance costs are hitting the profession.

The XPS Pension Transfer Watch Index for September has revealed that pension transfer activity plummeted at the same time as scam alerts surged - with 62% of pension transfers highlighted as potential scams.