The Spanish regulator CNMV has confirmed that the Premier Group is a clandestine operation in respect to its activities in Spain. A letter received at the law firm Lawbird Legal Services lists a number of firms that have operated in Spain illegally, including The Premier Group (Isle of Man) Limited, SL Mortgage Funding nº 1 Limited and The Premier Balanced Fund PLC.
Other banks that have operated furtively are ABN Amro N.V. (Gibraltar Branch), International Property Finance (Spain) Limited, BNP Paribas Trust Company (IOM) Limited and Banca del Gottardo.
What has taken the CNMV so long. At least they are on the case. Hopefully they will investigate all banks that have operated their tax defrauding equity release schemes on retired and ill informed pensioners, mostly British. If only Spain could take a leaf of of the British and us US regulators, these banks would have been fined and brought to account a long time ago.
The illegal activities of the Premier Group in Spain got underway in 1999 with the launch of the “experienced investor fund” known as the Premier Low Risk Fund plc advertised as offering 100% “capital security”.
This fund was anything BUT “Low Risk” and hundreds of elderly people were conned into signing a form endorsing their “experience” as “investors” causing them to lose a considerable amount of their life savings
And when they tried to rescue their money the Premier directors revealed a punitive exit penalty previously kept secret.
And the Isle of Man (so-called) financial regulators? Because the product was only based on the island and not sold on the island they could not care less.
Never, ever go anywhere near a Premier product – or indeed a tax haven like the Isle of Man!