Check financial advisers online

FRAUDSTER Graham 'Warren' Templeton was sentenced to two years in prison for conning expats in the Dordogne, before fleeing on bail to the UK.

There are methods of checking online:

Brokerage activities:
A list of registered brokers is available at www.orias.fr, the website of l’ORIAS (l’Organisme pour le Registre des Intermédiaires en Assurance).

Type in the business (or consultant’s) name in the white box in the top left corner under nom ou raison sociale and click rechercher. If the broker is registered, a window will open with the relevant details.

Investment advice (conseiller en investissement financier):
The Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF), the French equivalent of the UK Financial Services Authority, keeps a public list of regulated advisers on their website www.amf-france.org.

Click CIF et démarchage, then Fichiers des CIF/Associations agréées, then Recherche CIF and under nom du CIF, type in the business (or consultant’s) name and press OK.

The next page has three tabs along the top – each shows basic details, the regulated individuals within the business and by which association the business is regulated. Note that on the Charactérisiques page, there is a heading to the right of the address labelled Nature des opérations. This lists the regulated investment activities. The information is free to access.

Photo: Graham 'Warren' Templeton
Credit Patrick Bernard