stock broker - which are safest?

badger09

@JohnPeter

Giving you the benefit of the doubt that your post is not a precursor to :spam:, what you say is true.

However, this is a UK site so probably of little use to you if you are based in USA:cool:

Glen_Clark

EdGasket wrote: »

x-o (Jardine)

Jarvis plc. As I understand it they do the sharedealing services for Building Societies, manage company pension schemes, and x-o.co.uk is a sideline.
I thought the risk lies with the custody services. Multiple platforms might be using the same custody services?

economic

TD (where my investments are) is being taken over by interactive investor (II). II are also a spread betting outfit, so do you think i should just move away now to another broker before TD are taken over?

bowlhead99

economic wrote: »

TD (where my investments are) is being taken over by interactive investor (II). II are also a spread betting outfit, so do you think i should just move away now to another broker before TD are taken over?

You're mistaken - iii aren't a spreadbetting outfit.

Their owners have provided them with the capital to take over the TD Direct business which is the larger more established broker/platform, with more assets under administration. At some point they will likely push the two businesses together and merge the service offerings and customer service. However, it's not clear which of the two operations will most "survive" given they won't want to alienate their acquired customer base from TD who have hitherto been getting a good quality product. I am with TD and see no need to move as yet.

economic

bowlhead99 wrote: »

You're mistaken - iii aren't a spreadbetting outfit.

Their owners have provided them with the capital to take over the TD Direct business which is the larger more established broker/platform, with more assets under administration. At some point they will likely push the two businesses together and merge the service offerings and customer service. However, it's not clear which of the two operations will most "survive" given they won't want to alienate their acquired customer base from TD who have hitherto been getting a good quality product. I am with TD and see no need to move as yet.

III do provide spreadbetting, CFD etc services...

Malthusian

You can gamble on CFDs or day trading with a stockbroker and you could in theory hold a long term portfolio via a spread-betting bookmaker.

However when you go to IG Group it is immediately clear that their target audience is people gambling on short-term market movements. When you go to their website the first thing you see is a stockmarket graph covering a single day with those candlestick things, a warning saying "All trading involves risk. Losses can exceed deposits" and lots of exciting flashing colours. And, this is the clincher for me, they sponsor a football club. It's a bookmaker.

By contrast, the first thing you see on Interactive Investor's website is a reminder to use your ISA allowance, analysis of collective funds and muted pastel colours. And they don't sponsor any football clubs. It is true they are also after the short-term gambler pound (their rotating banner includes one advertising CFDs and forex) but there is a very clear difference in emphasis between the two websites.

III is a stockbroker, not a bookmaker, and although I don't use either I see no reason to move from TD Direct at present. I wouldn't see any reason to move even if it had been IG Group who took over TD Direct, not as long as they kept TD Direct largely as it was and didn't remove any functionality (and they'd have little reason to).

bowlhead99

economic wrote: »

III do provide spreadbetting, CFD etc services...

Well, TD also offer CFD and derivatives services and have done for many years as they are a well established stockbroker. Their ancillary services include spreadbets through a partnership arrangement, as they've had available for years. So the concern that "TD is now being taken over by iii who are a spreadbet shop" is completely unfounded.

iii have an affiliation with GAIN Capital (a US firm who owns City Index among others) to offer such services, just like TD have an agreement with London Capital Group (who owns Capital Spreads among others) to do likewise. So, both TD and iii can currently offer spreadbetting accounts through partners whitelabelling, and have done for a while, because customers want a one stop shop these days. But "TD being taken over by a spreadbet firm" is pretty wide of the mark.

Glen_Clark

bowlhead99 wrote: »

"TD is now being taken over by iii who are a spreadbet shop" .

Can I ask where you got that quote from?

bowlhead99

Glen_Clark wrote: »

Can I ask where you got that quote from?

If you see my post #15, I quoted economist's concern, which he then broadly referenced again in his post #16 (which I later paraphrased when explaining that it was an unfounded concern). I explained it was unfounded, because iii is no more a "spread betting outfit" than TD themselves; each provide their customers with access to a third party provider of spreadbet services alongside their core offering of stockbroking and fund platform and related services.

Glen_Clark

This is what economic said

economic wrote: »

............ II are also a spread betting outfit,............

and this is what you put in quote marks

bowlhead99 wrote: »

"TD is now being taken over by iii who are a spreadbet shop" .

Which I have to say falls below your usual high standards bowlhead