FCA: Woodford compensation payments could begin as early as 2024

investmentweek.co.uk:

The update revealed the creation of an investor committee to be chaired by Jamie Drummond-Smith, a former Deloitte partner who oversaw the company voluntary arrangement of Arcadia Group as interim chair.

Writing in response to an investor letter issued by LFS this morning (28 July), the regulator welcomed the update, which offered a potential timeline for next steps and revealed the introduction of an investor committee.

A spokesperson for the FCA said: «We welcome the update provided today by Link Fund Solutions. LFS have said that they remain on track to provide more details on how the scheme of arrangement will operate by September.

»Investors could start to receive payments from early 2024, subject to the approval of the scheme and the completion of the sale of LFS to Waystone Group."

The Woodford saga is far from over

While the FCA and Link Fund Solutions both issued statements in April that teased further information was due to be released to investors in July, Link's actual update was scant on detail.

Its statement today reiterated that the scheme was conditional on the sale of LFS to Waystone Group, and the sanctioning of the scheme by the High court.

In return for the up to £235m compensation scheme, LFS, Link Group and their respective affiliates and officers «will be released from all liability relating to LFSL's role as ACD of the WEIF».

Since the April statements, PricewaterhouseCoopers has been appointed to advise on the proposed scheme and act as prospective supervisors, and LFS has «entered into ongoing discussions with relevant stakeholders to further develop the detailed terms of the scheme» and «significant progress» has been made in developing the structure of the scheme.

FCA agrees up to £235m