Wine investment firm's director banned from boardrooms

The sole director of Bordeaux UK, the wine investment firm that went into liquidation in November 2011, has been banned from boardrooms for nearly a decade after his accounting of millions of pounds of investors’ money was found to be a ‘mess’. The former lift engineer-turned fine wine trader Ian Vanderhook cannot direct, manage or control any company until 2022, the UK Insolvency Service has said. The company is estimated to have owed more than £10m when it went under, but only had £1.7m worth of wine available and had taken at least £23m from investors between October 2008 and November 2011.

Back in 2011 the UK Financial Services Authority (FSA) began examining whether it should take a tougher stance on so-called unregulated collective investment schemes (UCIS). Earlier this year, one of the FSA's successors, the Financial Conduct Authority, issued new guidance banning financial advisers from promoting UCIS to general retail investors. Under FCA guidance, anyone remains free to invest in what they choose, but investments falling into the UCIS bracket should only be marketed to 'sophisticated investors and high net worth individuals'.