Broker Beaufort Securities declared insolvent by FCA

City broker Beaufort Securities and its clearing house, Beaufort Asset Clearing Services, have been declared insolvent by the Financial Conduct Authority.

The FCA said insolvency practitioners should take over their running "in order to protect assets from dissipation and protect the customers of both firms".

PwC has been appointed as administrator for the firms, which act as traditional stockbrokers servicing private investors, corporate clients and institutions.

The FCA said both companies must cease to carry on any regulated activity and must not dispose of any of their assets without prior consent from the financial watchdog.

PwC said in a statement: "The priority for the administrators is to identify, protect and in due course return client money and assets to rightful clients to the fullest extent possible. This process is likely to be subject to an initial delay while the administrators carry out a number of critical tasks in order to be able to make a full assessment of the situation.

"The administrators will be doing everything possible to expedite this process and minimise the hardship and inconvenience caused to clients."

The administrators expect to provide regular updates in the coming days on progress made

Nigel Rackham, joint administrator and PwC director, said: "The appointment of administrators has been rapid. Our key priority is to safeguard the firms’ custody and client money holdings held for their clients. Once these positions are under our control and we have secured important trading and client data, we can start planning for the return to clients. However, this is likely to take some time."