Due to serious regulatory and operational issues, last Thursday (April 6), The FCA has ordered WealthTek Limited Liability Partnership, which operates under the trade names Vertem Asset Management and Malloch Melville, to cease operations with immediate effect.

The FCA will ask the court on Thursday to place WealthTek under special administration.

The regulator also worked with Northumbria Police to arrest a 48-year-old man in connection with WealthTek, an FCA-authorised and regulated wealth manager that provides discretionary, advisory and execution services to its retail clients.

Now, the FCA has approached the High Court to appoint Shane Crooks, Mark Shaw and Emma Sayers of BDO LLP as interim managers of specially managed WealthTek. However, the appointment decision is still awaiting a court ruling. A company placed under special administration can be rescued or wound up as a going concern if it is in the best interests of creditors.

The FCA declined to comment on how many clients held WealthTek money or what failings it had uncovered.

Based in Newcastle, according to documents filed with Companies House on the UK's Companies Registry. According to accounts filed in September last year, WealthTek's assets stood at £446,000 as of 30 September 2021, down from £1.5 million in March 2020. A notice on the company's website confirmed the FCA's action.

The FCA said it was "in close contact with the company and interim administrators on the issue of fair treatment of customers and they will provide more information in due course".