New request for personal info from Selftrade

Nipper_55

Well done 'spinbuster' for writing to your MP. Let us know the outcome.

My nephew who is a QC tells me that the threat from S/T could be construed as blackmail. Very serious indeed !

Let us see if we can get all of us 200,000 members writing to our MPs. Their address is --- (name of MP)
House of Commons
London
SW1A 0AA

bowlhead99

spinbuster wrote: »

I will be voting for UKIP at the coming election of MEPs.

Q1)
What is UKIP's policy on implementing financial services regulation harmonised with other world governments to prevent and detect money laundering and counter the financing of terrorism?

Q2)
Presuming UKIP maintain or increase their seats in Europe and actually show up to the various meetings... Or, further presuming, that they were to win a UK election or at least form part of a coalition government here...

Under the prospective legislation to be introduced by a UKIP government after cancelling the current regulations, how specifically would they eliminate the risk that one company in the sector would implement an internal policy that pushes the boundaries of the framework in which they operate? Do UKIP intend to introduce a one-size-fits-all set of rules, rather than principles-based guidance?

If so, some would no doubt characterise that as "heavy handed lawmaking" rather than common sense, which seems to be exactly why people are complaining now.

My suspicion is that other than blaming the devil that is "Europe" for every UK law that the man on the street may grumble about, they do not actually have well-articulated and demonstrably better policies that would fix all the world's ills.

Consequently, I'm less than certain that appointing another MEP with eurosceptic views will do very much to cure a situation where an individual company makes an error of judgement in implementing procedure, or commits some operational or customer service "faux pas".

NonGeographicalMan

Nipper_55 wrote: »

This blatant blackmailing by S/T and the forcing by HMRC to make one human being inform on another, in secret, is reminiscent of the Gestapo during the 1930s and the East German Stasi secret police after the war.

I share your sentiments entirely although because of the culture of politically correct thought that usually controls the corridors of power and most of the UK Media it is usually extremely unwise to make direct associations with the German G*****o or their more unpleasant two letter named counterparts (beginning with an S) or their four letter named (beginning with an N) political masters.

On the whole therefore its safer to accuse them of behaving like say the secret police of various Eastern European block states or those who worked for Messrs Hussain and Qadaffi in Irqa and Libya, or of course the current oppressive regime in Syria.

So anyhow I have also received the outrageous form demanding to know my asset history in Question D but also even more unreasonably demanding that I tell them in Section C in what way I plan to use the money in my Selftrade account in future. It is quite clear the Section C information cannot possibly be required by HMRC, FCA or anyone else to collect this stuff and yet they are making the release of my £15,000 of cash funds that they have frozen contingent on also answering those questions.

They have not asked me to prove my identity, probably because I have lived here 17 years and so can be checked via every credit reference and other source known to mankind. However they have demanded the Section B, C and D information and I do not believe they are entitled to any of it, especially Section D, just because I transferred a few years worth of ISAs across to them after a disagreement with Peter Hargreaves at Hargreaves Lansdown a few years ago. As all the money was already in investments when it moved to them from HL then any due diligence requirement re money laundering actually surely fell on Hargreaves Lansdown and not on Selftrade.

I have had two most unsatisfactory phone calls so far with Selftrade, the first with a front line Barrow Girl and then a call back from an older but even more Ignorant (the Characteristic Ignorance of their staff almost being almost an art form at Selftrade) Barrow Boy. But true to form like all good Barrow Boys and Girls they have been so Pig Ignorant that they do not seem to even understand concepts like Due Diligence or Money Laundering and have just told me I have to fill out the form Because Their Bosses Says So. They have persistently refused my requests to be transferred to the Compliance Department to discuss the matter further.

I also made a most unsatisfactory call today to the FCA Complaints line on 0800 111 6768 listed at www.fca.org.uk/consumers/consumer-helpline but the heartless muppets employed by Teleperformance were completely unsympathetic and just tried to fob me off back to Selftrade blaming it all on any Terms & Conditions I had signed up to with them. I then immediately got on the phone to the main FSA switchboard on 020 7066 1000 as listed at www.fca.org.uk/site-info/contact and as their "Complaints Against The FCA" advisers were all busy was given their direct phone line for them on 020 7066 9870.

After leaving a message I got a call back within an hour from a much more helpful lady (an actual FSA employee who is part of a complaints team of only five). She knew all about Selftrade and was very keen to ask if Selftrade had blamed the FCA for having to provide this information. I said they had not done so in their covering letter but in my two phone calls each adviser had specifically named and blamed the FCA as the reason for the sending out of their Questionnaire.

For what its worth when speaking to today's Selftrade Barrow Bow (the Level 2 guy who called back) I also asked for name of their Compliance Officer and was given the name of Ali Ghaffari. I then later tried the Societe Generale main switchboard on 020 7676 6000 and they denied they had such an employee at all. I then asked for their Compliance Department and was put through to a young lady to whom I aired my concerns about the behaviour of their wholly owned subsidiary (Selftrade) in freezing my money with extensive threats and menaces to hold it to ransom if I would not accede to filling out their ridiculous form. She has said she will get back to me.

Despite the protestations of the Soc Gen London switchboard that Ali Ghaffari does not work there curiously his Linked In entry at http://uk.linkedin.com/pub/ali-ghaffari-fca/1/185/544 shows his current position as being Risk and Compliance Director at Societe Generale - Talos Securities And at the bottom of the page at www.selftrade.co.uk/about-us.php we are told both that "Selftrade is a subsidiary of Boursorama Group and part of the Societe Generale Group" and that Selftrade® is a trading name of Talos Securities Limited and registered trade mark of Boursorama. Talos Securities Limited is incorporated in England and Wales (Registration No. 4196325" So I can only conclude from all this that Mr Ghaffari's office is probably based down in Boatman House in Selsdon Way and not at the Soc Gen HQ at Exchange House, Primrose Street, London EC2A 2HT. This appears to be the poor end of the Isle of Dogs (some way away from Canary Wharf) with office space costing a mere £15 a sqaure foot according to the For Let sign currently showing outside the office block on Google Streetview.

Bottom line is Selftrade, Talos and Boursorama are all wholly owned parts of Societe Generala and Soc Gen in the UK is a big posh respectable name (who also took over the much posher London merchant bank of Hambros and then duly obliterated its much loved branding and long loved name in favour of their own tasteless red and black brand) who ought to be thoroughly embarrassed about treating its customers in this manner.

So my recommendation is that anyone sufficiently hacked off not only writes to Moneybox about all this but also sends an email to Soc Gen CEO Frederic Oudea for whom an email address is listed at www dot ceoemail dot com While you are at it you might also want to email Ali Ghaffari using the email convention [EMAIL="firstname.lastname@selftrade.co.uk"]firstname.lastname@selftrade.co.uk[/EMAIL] You might also then want to email Selftrade's recently appointed CEO, who is Alex Buffet, (as listed at http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/10/17/boursorama-idUSnBw175908a+100+BSW20131017) to ask him to justify their demand for your personal life and times and the actions of his sidekick, Mr Ghafarri, that he and his sub-board must presumably have approved?

A few useful Twitter accounts to make one's feelings know at are @SelftradeUK , @Boursorama , @SocieteGenerale , @TheFCA and @FredericOudea (SocGen Head Office CEO who has Protected his Twitter Account, perhaps due to the number of hostile posts he already receives).

The main thing I would encourage all of you to do is to turn your current fire on the parent Societe Generale and its Compliance Department as they will not be able to so easily stand or ignore this highly embarrassing publicity, whereas their barrow boy run stockbroking subsidiary on the Isle of Dogs probably has very little reputation left to lose.

spinbuster

I am voting tactically for UKIP on the basis that, if enough people do the same, it will put pressure on the main parties to review the delegation of law making powers to the EU and European Parliament.
As the MEPs rubber stamp the EU directives they would appear to be becoming more important than our MPs.

(Can I suggest that as this thread is about the Selftrade Records Review request, perhaps a new thread should be started regarding delegation of law making powers to the EU, and any value in backing UKIP? Alternatively would my existing “Money Laundering Police State?” thread be suitable to promote and continue the discussion?)

dougz_2

FCA have a responsibility even if they try to fob off. Supposedly they are "answerable to the treasury" so maybe we should all complain there too: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-treasury/about/complaints-procedure, also lots of individuals names here: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-treasury .
Worth sending complaint copies by BCC to as many people as possible, so has anyone got any of their emails?

innovate

You can easily write to your MP via
https://www.writetothem.com/

Your MP has a voice in parliament right now, you don't need to bank on a party that has no representation in anything that will affect UK legislation this side of 2020, and hopefully not the other side of 2020 either.

EDIT: I just sent my questions on the matter to my MP right now. Please consider doing the same - we can't possibly let banks and brokers to become judge and jury over our own money!

NonGeographicalMan

innovate wrote: »

Your MP has a voice in parliament right now, you don't need to bank on a party that has no representation in anything that will affect UK legislation this side of 2020, and hopefully not the other side of 2020 either.

It depends if your MP is any good.

Mine is a tired, lazy old buffer who generally does as little as he possibly can while claiming as much as he can in additional allowances and who should not have been re-selected to run this time round. I therefore wouldn't count on him at all to properly investigate and remedy any complaint of this sort on my behalf.

innovate

NonGeographicalMan wrote: »

It depends if your MP is any good.

Mine is a tired, lazy old buffer who generally does as little as he possibly can while claiming as much as he can in additional allowances and who should not have been re-selected to run this time round. I therefore wouldn't count on him at all to properly investigate and remedy any complaint of this sort on my behalf.

If your MP is no good, you should tell him/her and vote them out if they don't change their ways.
What did your MP say when you put your question about the selftrade / HSBC questions to him? ..........Oh, you didn't ask him I hear you say..........so no offence, but who in this case is the tired, lazy old buffer who generally does as little as he possibly can while claiming as much as he can? (using your words)

You don't get anything for nothing. Get off your backside and get your MP off his backside!!!

NonGeographicalMan

innovate wrote: »

If your MP is no good, you should tell him/her and vote them out if they don't change their ways.

I did tell him very publicly at the last AGM of our local Conservative Association and have also complained to the Conservative Chief Whip about him. I rejoined the Conservative Association specifically in order to try and get him de-selected but so far have failed due to the stuffed shirt contingent in my area who would vote for a donkey with a blue rosette. I have not voted for him for the last two Parliamentary elections and have voted for UKIP on each occasion.

What did your MP say when you put your question about the selftrade / HSBC questions to him? ..........Oh, you didn't ask him I hear you say..........so no offence, but who in this case is the tired, lazy old buffer who generally does as little as he possibly can while claiming as much as he can?

You don't get anything for nothing. Get off your backside and get your MP off his backside!!!

I strongly suspect that you are simply an armchair critic (especially noting your enormous and seemingly rather excessive post count in this forum) who simply enjoys preaching at other members from your lofty internet pulpit while rarely following the advice you give others in your own personal life. My MP has already failed to help me with a previous very important case where I wanted to go to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman and has now told me to go away again despite lieing to the Conservative Chief Whip that he would help me if I reapproached him over the matter so he clearly isn't going to help with this generic widespread problem for all/most Selftrade investors.

I will be pursuing the matter instead directly with journalists and senior personnel at the FCA and at Selftrade's parent - Societe Generale - who cannot simply continue to hide their heads in the sand. I may be reporting other aspects of my MP's conduct over expenses to the Parliamentary Standards regulator - IPSA - but it remains to be seen whether or not this will lead to him being prevented from standing in the next General Election.

NonGeographicalMan

Phoned Selftrade again today (Thursday 1st May) at 10.40am and amazingly got straight through with no call queue at all (unlike previous attempts where it has been 6 or 7 deep and taken 20 minutes). My main reason for calling again was to check they definitely didn't need any certified documents, which is more cost and hassle than the objectionable form given that all my bank accounts etc are online only.

Anyway I got another rough sounding Barrow Girl who sounded exactly like someone who would be working at the local newsagent in an episode of Eastenders or Rev but who said "nah they would have asked for that stuff if they had wanted it" but didn't then get me to pass security to bother to check what their computer system actually said. I asked if there was perhaps somebody more senior I could speak to but once again was told no. It really is totally outrageous that when Self trade is asking for massive amounts of confidential data from generally intelligent and well educated people that they don't even have any higher level reasonably intelligent staff you can speak to about their demands.

As I need access to some of the money within the next month (sadly I have not been working for a while so am forced to live on capital) I am now in a dilemma as to whether to fill out the form with minimum non commital info or to fight them all the way on principle only to end up having to borrow money on a card or an overdraft at 17%+ So looks like I will have to fill the form under protest and then take a complaint to the FSO after the event that the information demanded was quite outrageous, unnecessary and impossible to provide in the detail they asked for.

In doing all this I looked again at the Selftrade, Head of Compliance , Ali Ghaffari's Linked In entry and spotted some interesting information against "Viewers of this Profile also viewed" as follows:-

Alexandre Baumeister, Deputy CEO and Executive Director at Selftrade

He has a Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/alexandre.baumeister which confirms that he also works for Boursorama, Selftrade's French online stockbroking sibling.

Mike Ward, Chief Information Officer at Selftrade

Graham Lisle, Head of Operations at Selftrade

So along with knowing that the CEO of Selftrade is also Alex Buffet (the former CEO was Paul Greetham but presumably he doesn't work there any more unless he does but in a different capacity) this provides a few people one might email at Selftrade using the email convention firstname.lastname@selftrade.co.uk to both complain about the unreasonable and intrusive form and also ask whether or not they plan to come up with a toned down or more limited version of it that one might feel more like completing.

EDIT:- Here are some more Selftrade Senior Executive names culled from Linked in

David Jeal, Head of Product Management at Selftrade

Kulraj Bhogal, Finance Manager at Selftrade