Question re: holding international shares

JJforever

I hope someone can point me in the right direction.

I have some canadian shares and also some uk banking shares held in an isa account with charles stanley brokers (this was before we had platforms).

I'm getting charged £150 + vat, and an overseas custody charge of £30.

Would it be cheaper to move to a platform? I have looked at monevator's list and I'm still unsure which platform accepts international shares.

Would appreciate any suggestions please.

Thank you.

masonic

The main cheap sharedealers (x-o and SVS) don't allow you to hold foreign shares. Degiro might be worth a look, but it is not covered by the passport compensation scheme and lends out stock.

To suggest on the other platforms, it would be useful to know how much you have invested because that will inform whether percentage or flat fees are better for you. £150 suggests around £60k? - in which case, you could consider Interactive Investor which covers Canadian markets, but it does have some issues (mainly affecting its fund operations). That would bring your costs down to £80 and give you two free trades per quarter.

grey_gym_sock

https://the-international-investor.com/comparison-tables/uk-international-stockbrokers is a useful reference for who lets you hold canadian shares, and what they charge for currency conversion.

then check the ISA charges for the possible brokers.

it may be more difficult/slow (than transferring UK shares) to transfer canadian shares between UK brokers.

Atreyu107

grey_gym_sock wrote: »

then check the ISA charges for the possible brokers.

You can't transfer shares into an ISA, so you'll want the general investment/dealing account product fees (usually very similar in any case).

JJforever

masonic wrote: »

To suggest on the other platforms, it would be useful to know how much you have invested because that will inform whether percentage or flat fees are better for you. £150 suggests around £60k?

I WISH, no I don't have anywhere near that actually. I have checked the currency conversion and it's only about 4K worth depending on share price and the Lloyds shares are pretty minuscule as well. The dividends don't cover the costs. They only changed their charging structure last year but I haven't really checked it until now. Do you think they are charging me that because it was a self-select isa?

Thank you.

masonic

JJforever wrote: »

I WISH, no I don't have anywhere near that actually. I have checked the currency conversion and it's only about 4K worth depending on share price and the Lloyds shares are pretty minuscule as well. The dividends don't cover the costs. They only changed their charging structure last year but I haven't really checked it until now. Do you think they are charging me that because it was a self-select isa?

With that value of portfolio, you won't need to go far to get a much better deal, Charles Stanley Direct, the discount platform operated by the same business charges a fraction of the cost you are currently paying. CSD charges a 0.25% custody fee (around £10 a year based on your current portfolio value) and £10 per trade, so this would probably be the best option if you want to retain your international shares.

masonic

Atreyu107 wrote: »

You can't transfer shares into an ISA, so you'll want the general investment/dealing account product fees (usually very similar in any case).

OP mentions they are already in an ISA.

grey_gym_sock

masonic wrote: »

With that value of portfolio, you won't need to go far to get a much better deal, Charles Stanley Direct, the discount platform operated by the same business charges a fraction of the cost you are currently paying. CSD charges a 0.25% custody fee (around £10 a year based on your current portfolio value) and £10 per trade, so this would probably be the best option if you want to retain your international shares.

that's an improvement ... however, you can avoid custody/platform fees altogether when you're only holding shares (not funds) - e.g. with ajbell youinvest (and they apparently can handle canadian shares).