On 24 and 25 June 2021 the Adjudication Panel considered an allegation of misconduct against Mrs Bayliss (the respondent). Between February and May 2020, while acting in the role of Director of Company C, she accepted a joint instruction from solicitors acting on behalf of Person A (the referrer) and Person B (his wife) to prepare an expert report on pension sharing on divorce.
The panel found evidence to support that, during the course of the instruction, the respondent did not provide a predicted income for each party after the pension split and after Person A’s pension age, despite being instructed to do so. The panel also found that, upon being questioned by Person A’s instructed solicitor in relation to her calculations, she refused to provide any structural answers in that she did not explain her view on how her calculations would be affected if Person B considered an income drawdown policy at the rate of 4% per year. The panel found these to be ‘low level breaches’ of the Communication principle of the Actuaries’ Code (version 3.0).
Taking account of all the relevant information, the panel determined that there was a prima facie case of misconduct.
No sanction was appropriate in this case.
Find full copies of the published determinations at bit.ly/IFoA_DiscDeterm
