Vanguard extend ETF range

SnowMan

Glen_Clark wrote: »

I recall my VWRL was credited several days after 27 Dec, probably 31 December, but dated 27 December.
Where do you find the amount paid in dollars please?
All I can see on Vanguard website is the payment dates.

Go to the Vanguard interim report (need to download the pdf) and the figures are on page 131.

VUKE is 18.3697p according to that (that is paid in sterling of course) which is quite close to your figure.

Edit: quicker way to see last dividend is to go to the Vanguard website choose the institutional investor option and then from the investment products tab select Exchange Traded Funds and then click on the distributions tab, although the amounts shown aren't the December figures.

Glen_Clark

SnowMan wrote: »

Go to the Vanguard interim report (need to download the pdf) and the figures are on page 131.

VUKE is 18.3697p according to that (that is paid in sterling of course) which is quite close to your figure.

Edit: quicker way to see last dividend is to go to the Vanguard website choose the institutional investor option and then from the investment products tab select Exchange Traded Funds and then click on the distributions tab, although the amounts shown aren't the December figures.

Many Thanks for the links. My VUKE dividend is the figure you and Vanguard give, its just been rounded down to the nearest penny. I was going into so many decimal places that on 500 units the difference less than half a penny. But there is more difference in the ones paid in dollars.

Glen_Clark

westy22 wrote: »

VUSA paid on 27 Dec at a rate of 0.6124 (X-O Stockbrokers)

Strange. I held 763 x VUSA with X-O, which at $.133840 = $102.12
I received £60.81 from X-O(credited a few days late as I recall but was dated 27.12.13)
Making a rate of 0.5955 (60.81/102.12)
Am I missing something here?

gadgetmind

gadgetmind wrote: »

Hmmm, BestInvest are having a wobble and I haven't been able to buy VUKE today. However, the FTSE 100 has obliged by dropping 1%, which is nice!

For various reasons, including BestInvest not currently being able to trade VUKE or VAPX online (but doing it for online cost over 'phone) I didn't finish the move from Vanguard tracker funds to ETFs until yesterday. As luck would have it, this wasn't a bad week to be heavy in cash, but it could have all worked out very differently!

SnowMan

I've had a reply from First Direct and they are refusing to disclose the charges they make on conversion of foreign dividends into sterling. The full correspondence is as follows...

I hold ETFs in my share portfolio that are sterling related classes. However dividends are paid in dollars. Can you please tell me (or give me a link to) information on what currency conversion charges FD apply on converting these dividends from dollars to pounds when a dividend is paid. Thank you.

And the answer from FD 2 weeks later

Thank you for your message dated 24 Feb 2014. When a dividend is received via our custodian, we are provided with the payment details by the company paying. If a dividend is recieved in USD, and it is to be paid in GBP, there will be an exchange rate used, this will fluctuate as the exchange rate changes

I rang them up after this to say that didn't answer my question, and asked them to disclose what spread they were using in the foreign currency conversion. They kept to the position that they couldn't add more to this response and they didn't make any explicit charge. Eventually I managed to get them to look at it further.

Here is their subsequent reponse

Dear SnowMan,

With the reference to your enquiry of 11 March 2014 When a dividend is paid in a foreign currency our systems automatically exchange it into stirling using the current exchange rate. This exchange rate changes every few seconds. This as it is a system generated rate. The spread would be confidential information that we do not have access to. The only time that both rates are quoted is when you are buying and selling currency.

Yours sincerely,

Customer Services Manager Sharedealing

guymo

Is it my imagination or is that response shocking?

bigadaj

Snowman, I think you're going to start having your own little section at the Fca.

bigsy

My VHYL dividend on AJ Bell Youinvest was dated 27/12/13 with an exchange rate of 0.6031. They apparently have a foreign exchange charge of 1.00% included in this.

The exchange rate for the dividend paid on 4/10/13 was 0.619089.

SnowMan

I've set up a google sheet so we can compare rates of Vanguard ETF dollar dividend conversion rates to sterling. I'll add in others data if they post up.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AhA6Przq6KI1dDhNeEpDWUtRMW00WDFMN3FCTU5rTHc&usp=sharing

If your platform doesn't show the dollar amount, post up the sterling dividend amount, the number of shares you hold, the fund (e.g. VWRL) and I can calculate the rate for you. Or do the calculation yourself, the declared dollar dividends to do this calculation are in the 'dividend rates' sheet.

RetiredInThailand

SnowMan wrote: »

I've had a reply from First Direct and they are refusing to disclose the charges they make on conversion of foreign dividends into sterling.

Isn't that illegal?

For what it's worth NatWest are very upfront about their (obscenely high for sums under 600K) exchange fees, and I suspect that most other brokers charge something similar. So what can you do?

Foreign currency exchange charges (apply to both Standard and Elite services)
£0.00 to £24,999.99 2.00%
£25,000.00 to £49,999.99 1.75%
£50,000.00 to £99,999.99 1.00%
£100,000.00 to £599,999.99 0.50%
£600,000.00 to £999,999.99 0.25%