Former customers of Verus Financial Services can file for compensation with the U.K.’s Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), but claims will not immediately reach individual assessment while the scheme investigates the firm.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) urged former clients Thursday to check their eligibility. The FSCS began taking claims Oct. 15, 2026, and says it is first checking whether applications qualify under the scheme’s rules. The review may take some time, and submitting a claim does not guarantee compensation. The scheme has not set a date for individual assessments.
Verus has been authorized by the FCA since March 2017. The FSCS says the independent financial adviser provided clients with advice on investments, pensions, mortgages, equity release and insurance.
A complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) does not replace an FSCS claim. The FSCS says customers can apply without paying a fee and are not required to hire a solicitor or other representative. If a customer’s FOS file is transferred to the scheme, evidence contained in that file does not have to be sent again. The FCA also urged customers to be wary of recovery firms and unexpected callers claiming to represent Verus.
In 2025, the FCA removed Verus’s permissions to conduct regulated activities and restricted the firm from disposing of, transferring or reducing assets without the regulator’s prior written consent, subject to exceptions. The FCA later cited repeated, deliberate breaches of an earlier asset restriction, failure to comply with an FOS decision and a lack of openness and cooperation.
An FCA supervisory notice records that the FOS ordered Verus to pay an unnamed customer £415,000 on June 30, 2024. The customer accepted the decision July 25, making it binding; the notice said the award remained unpaid. It does not establish whether other former customers qualify for compensation.
The FSCS says it will post updates as its investigation progresses, but has announced no date for individual assessments to begin.
