Jarvis and ePayments: verify the update before acting

The brief

Jarvis Investment Management entered special administration on 14 October; ePayments Systems followed on 15 October. The FCA’s notices describe different arrangements for investment assets and payment services. Jarvis clients should receive a letter within eight weeks of appointment explaining the plan. That is not a promise to return assets within eight weeks. Jarvis notice. ePayments notice.

Our practical conclusion is to keep three questions separate: who is sending the update, what action it asks you to take, and what protection applies to the particular service. Establish the administrator’s contact route independently before acting on an unexpected recovery offer. Preserve the notice and its date so that a later change does not become confused with an earlier promise.

The full record

Jarvis’s administrators say clients cannot currently withdraw, sell or transfer assets while reconciliation proceeds. Their proposed transfer to a single regulated broker is expected to take months; an exact timetable is not available. Read the administrators’ update.

For ePayments, the FCA explains that payment services are outside FSCS protection. Safeguarding requirements are a separate arrangement, and the administrators are assessing the funds. The investment-firm and payment-firm cases should therefore not be described as offering identical compensation. Read the FCA’s explanation.

Our analysis: distinguish an update from an entitlement

A person waiting for access to money needs a clear account of what is known. A useful notice should distinguish an action already completed, a proposed next step and a date for further information. If the next date concerns correspondence, repeat that qualification whenever summarising it for a client. Do not let “we will write” become “you will be paid”.

For advisers helping several affected clients, keep a separate case record for each legal entity and service. Record the source notice, the client’s relationship to that entity and the unresolved question. Similar brand names, interfaces or references to administration do not justify copying one answer across every case.

Check a recovery request before sharing documents

The FCA warns clients to remain alert to fraud, to end unexpected calls and to contact the firm directly using published or verified contact details; for ePayments it urges caution over third-party recovery services. See the Jarvis warning. See the ePayments warning.

Our suggested workflow is to retain the incoming request without treating its contact information as the verification route. Start from the official notice, identify the appointed administrator and check the request through that independently established channel. Ask whether this particular document, payment or instruction is required for this particular case.

A successful identity check still leaves a second question: does the proposed action match the official process? Record both answers. If the request changes the destination of a payment or asks for a new fee, treat that as a new instruction requiring review. An earlier genuine exchange should not silently authorise a different action.

Keep uncertainty visible

When passing an update to a client or trustee, state the date of the source and distinguish confirmed information from expectations. Give unresolved matters an owner and a next review date. If a timetable changes, retain the earlier notice and explain the change instead of replacing it without a trace.

This is a communication discipline, not a determination of an individual claim or recovery amount. Its immediate value is narrower: the recipient can understand what has actually been promised, where the information came from and what remains to be decided.

Checked the FCA’s two notices and Jarvis administrators’ public update on 19 October 2026. Entry dates are distinguished from notice dates and future correspondence. We did not inspect client holdings, determine compensation eligibility or predict recoveries. Operational suggestions are editorial analysis.

1. FCA: Jarvis special administration, 15 October; updated 16 October
2. S&W: Jarvis administrators’ client update
3. FCA: ePayments special administration, 15 October