Are A J Bell and IWeb the same company?

_pete_

I've been indulging in some paranoia/sensible risk analysis (depending on your viewpoint) and have decided to spread my SIPP across 2 or 3 platforms. I'm aware that the funds are held in trust etc, but I want to guard against the tiny possiblity that there may be a major fraud/hacking/other disaster at the platform level.

I already have a SIPP with A J Bell, but have been unhappy with their move away from a fixed fee service so I've opened up another SIPP with IWeb - much lower charge and so far the service has been excellent.

However, I've noticed that the various forms they've sent me all have A J Bell and IWeb on the front cover. Does this mean they are effectively the same outfit (from a point of view of fraud/hacking/other disaster)?

Thanks.

EdSwippet

_pete_ wrote: »

Does this mean they are effectively the same outfit (from a point of view of fraud/hacking/other disaster)?

No. AJ Bell is just the SIPP administrator for iWeb's SIPP.

Youinvest is AJ Bell. iWeb, Lloyds Sharedealing and Halifax Sharedealing are all Halifax (so these three would be the same outfit from the point of view of fraud, hacking, etc.).

_pete_

EdSwippet wrote: »

No. AJ Bell is just the SIPP administrator for iWeb's SIPP.

Youinvest is AJ Bell. iWeb, Lloyds Sharedealing and Halifax Sharedealing are all Halifax (so these three would be the same outfit from the point of view of fraud, hacking, etc.).

Thank you! Does this mean there is no risk (however theoretical) from having my two SIPPs administered by the same company?

EdSwippet

_pete_ wrote: »

Does this mean there is no risk (however theoretical) from having my two SIPPs administered by the same company?

My (admittedly foggy) understanding is that the pensions administrator looks after all the fiddly HMRC, tax and regulatory bits and pieces of running a SIPP that relate to the pensions part, leaving the platform bit free to handle the operation of investments, user interface, and so on.

So I suppose that if AJ Bell were somehow failing in their duty as a pension administrator for Youinvest they'd be doing the same for iWeb. But in iWeb they don't have control over your SIPP holdings, just the back-office pension-related work, so I'd say the risk is minimal. If it really bothers you, the choice of non-AJ Bell flat-fee SIPPs is a bit thin on the ground, but you could branch out to either Alliance Trust or Interactive Investor in a pinch.

Personally I probably wouldn't let this bother me, but a) that's just me, and b) I'm vague on what a pensions administrator really does, even after perusing HMRC's 'Pension Tax Manual' (actually, especially after perusing it!).

Alexland

While they are not the same company the relationship and resulting fraud risk is not entirely clear so as my SIPP is with Halifax I avoid iWeb and YouInvest. Similarly I have a workplace pension with Fidelity so I avoid Cavendish Funds Network.

There's enough choice in the market to find other good products. My next SIPP will be with Interactive Investor once I have built up a big enough pot with Fidelity to split six digits out again.

Alex

Audaxer

Alexland wrote: »

While they are not the same company the relationship and resulting fraud risk is not entirely clear so as my SIPP is with Halifax I avoid iWeb and YouInvest.
Alex

For FSCS purposes Halifax Share Dealing and IWeb are classed as the same - i.e. you would only be covered for £50k once even if you had over £50k in each platform.

Alexland

Yes that's clear but if fraud occured in the AJ Bell administration of the Halifax/iWeb SIPP and also affected your YouInvest SIPP? Even if the FSCS paid out twice many customers would still be facing big losses for account balances above £50k so in my view it's not worth the risk when there are other good choices.

Gloomster

"I already have a SIPP with A J Bell, but have been unhappy with their move away from a fixed fee service so I've opened up another SIPP with IWeb - much lower charge and so far the service has been excellent"

My recent experience is that both AJ Bell/YouInvest/Sippdeal and Halifax/IWeb have very poor customer service. In the first case, AJ Bell never returns calls despite promising to do so, whilst Halifax is inflexible - "The Computer says no".

The combination is dire. Halifax/IWeb failed to record my mobile number when my original SIPP account was set up 3 years ago but, after having corrected the omission some weeks ago, it is still not available to the Sipp administration team in AJ Bell. Simply pathetic.

Albermarle

but you could branch out to either Alliance Trust or Interactive Investor in a pinch.

II have bought Alliance and are in the process of integration .

Malthusian

Albermarle wrote: »

II have bought Alliance and are in the process of integration .

To be fair it's unlikely EdSwippet could have known in November 2017 that II would buy Alliance just under a year later.