Selling commonwealth bank of Australia shares

jennyjj

Just a quick update for anyone British stuggling to sell their holding in Commonwealth Bank of Australia shares. I've just succeeded pretty easily after eventually finding the right route.
First, I enquired to Exfin about how to sell my holding. The enquiry form is here.
https://www.exfin.com/investments-shares-australia-inquiry-form

Within a couple of days, Exfin sent me a link to contact Hartleys, an Australian brokerage. I contacted Hartleys by email and they said they no longer supplied the service??? But at the same time, a broker there, John Goodlad said they do?? Apparently they DO only provide the service to people referred to them via Exfin!
I was rightly concerned that proceeds by Australian cheque might be an issue. Apparently my bank, Natwest will stop accepting them at the end of Jan!
So, I CAREFULLY filled in all the forms from Hartleys, including a 'foreign banking' form. That form did not have enough space to enter the full IBAN, but I was told to just ignore the boxes and write it in.
They needed a certified copy of my passport and would NOT accept certification by the Post Office certification service! Neither of my banks would certify the copy either, so, I eventually got a chartered accountant to sign it. ( An established school teacher might suffice )
Popped all the forms into the post (cost £8 tracked) and waited.... and waited. nearly 3 weeks.
Then bang. An email confirmation arrived today. Money should reach my bank this week ( for a price )
The fees were a few hundred pounds, and the number of forms was a PITA, but at least, when they received the forms, the transaction was quick and easy. Touch wood the money arrives:)
Hope this helps someone.

NDG1944

Just revisiting this thread after some months to see how successful any correspondents have been.

I have been trying to understand how one effects sale or transfer of shares in CBA for about six months. Within that last 2/3 months a visit to the CBA web-site indicates that it is pretty straight forward to execute the transaction directly through them subject to the usual paperwork which I believe they will accept as email attachments if I haven't over simplified the case.

So not sure why executors of deceased persons are being pushed down the stockbroker path because my experience of this has been dire with no apparent progress over months or even years?

But as a separate question when was this scheme offered to UK teachers and through which teacher's union?

Stay safe,

NDG1944

johnosmith

NDG1944 have you had any success in selling through CBA. Web site indicates UK holders have to use approved broker from London Stock exchange. I've tried the Hartleys route and received the e mail saying they no longer offer the service. Would welcome comments if you have succeeded in selling these shares recently.
Thanks

MayQueen

Hi, I know this is a bit of a late reply. Link Market Services in Australia will sell the shares for you. There are contact details on the website. Everything has to be done by post. Forms and Certified copies of Death Certificates and Grants of Probate. I'm just about ready to send them off.

MayQueen

NDG1944 said:

Just revisiting this thread after some months to see how successful any correspondents have been.

I have been trying to understand how one effects sale or transfer of shares in CBA for about six months. Within that last 2/3 months a visit to the CBA web-site indicates that it is pretty straight forward to execute the transaction directly through them subject to the usual paperwork which I believe they will accept as email attachments if I haven't over simplified the case.

So not sure why executors of deceased persons are being pushed down the stockbroker path because my experience of this has been dire with no apparent progress over months or even years?

But as a separate question when was this scheme offered to UK teachers and through which teacher's union?

Stay safe,

NDG1944

How did you get on with selling your shares?

MayQueen

maddog180169 said:

Woke up this morning to two emails - the first from Openmarkets -

"Hi Alan,

We can sell your shares for you as a one off sale, please see our help centre article for more information

Please note, there is a $100 fee to settle the proceeds into an overseas bank account, this is on top of the standard brokerage fee.
All you have to do is fill out the form and post it in with all the relevant ID and we can process this for you.

Let me know if you have any questions.
Kind regards,
Riane El Moustafa
Client Services Officer
OpenMarkets"

Which seems promising but the next one was something I wasn't expecting, from Link Market Services (The holding company for the shares) -

Dear Mr Keenan,

Thank you for your email.

At Link Market Services, we offer a share sale facility whereby the Commonwealth Bank of Australia is a participant. To sell your shares via the Share Sale Centre, these key conditions must apply:

· Your holding must be Issuer Sponsored (starts with an I rather than X);
· A fee of 0.66% of the total value of the sale will apply, with a minimum fee of $66.00
· You must sell your entire holding, no part sales allowed
· Payments via Direct Credit can only be made to a Australian Bank account
· Cheques will be issued in AUD dollars only,
· A fee of $35.00 AUD will apply to all cheque payments, this fee will be deducted from the sale proceeds.

Alternatively, you can contact Australian Stock Exchange’s Broker Referral Service on + 61 2 9338 0000, if you do not have a broker to act for you. You may wish to visit the ASX website at (ASX website)

Please note that the sale authority form can only be sent by post to your registered address and must be returned to our office by post, as original signatures are required.

If you wish to take part in our sale facility, please return this email with the following information and the appropriate documentation will be posted to your registered:

· The Security holder reference number (SRN) of the holding;
· The registered full name of the holding;
· The registered address of the holding.

Should we be able to assist you further, please do not hesitate to contact us on 1800 022 440, or for overseas callers: +61 2 8280 7199

Regards

Matthew
Investor Services
Email Correspondence
Link Market Services Limited Ph: (02) 8767 1111
Fax: (02) 9287 0303


I think I will respond back to Link Market Services as hopefully they will not require any ID sending over to Australia as they are the holding company and it shouldn't be as complicated as using an external company.



I have checked with my bank (Barclay's) and they will receive a cheque written in Australian Dollars for a fee of course and an exchange rate fee, but at least I might eventually be able to get rid of these shares. I was always expecting to be hit by some charges trying to perform this transaction.

I will let you know how it goes :-)



Alan

Dear Alan

Can I please ask how you got on with this, as I am currently going through the process with Link.

Hail22

Hi, I'm not sure if anyone can advise on the tax obligations following the sale of shares with CBA can you please? I too have inherited shares from my late mothers estate. I had no idea they existed. Probate closed some twenty plus years ago! I now earn above £35k but I'm not a 40% tax earner and assume upon receipt of said shares that I'll need to complete a P60 and declare them. Does this mean I pay Capital Gains Tax plus the tax I declare on the P60 or is this just the same? #confusedaboutobligations

NannyJoan48

Have been following these posts for a few years in the hope of finding a way to sell my partner`s Commonwealth Bank of Australia shares. The biggest problem was finding an English Broker who traded on the Australian stock market. He acquired his shares because  CBA did a takeover of Colonial Bank in around 2000 in which he had a life insurance policy and was given CBA share in lieu of his payments into the life insurance
I eventually found one called Walker Crips in London who trade on the British Stock Market and have connections to foreign markets They sold our shares and converted the money into English pounds and deposited the money into our bank account. It helped that I had the login details to my partner`s account at linkmarketservices.com.au  I am doing this for him as he does not use computers. Once money laundering checks had been made after opening an account with them, our details registered ( I was registered as a joint account holder} we were ready to go. Within days after the initial checks were made the money was in our bank account. My understanding is that the only tax to be paid is Capital Gains Tax as other taxes have been paid when dividends were paid out. A reminder that personal allowances for Capital Gains tax were reduced to £6K in 2023 and will be further reduced to £3K in 2024 The phone number for Walker Crips is 02031008400 or   client.services@wcplc.co.uk  I hope this post helps other people stuck in this void. No, I do not have shares in WalkerCrips. I am just a very grateful customer who wants to sing their praises and help others with the same problem. Hope this helps

AcciesOK

Hi. Re previous post by NannyJoan48 my circs seem very similar. Process of selling seemed daunting till I saw that post directing owners to WalkerCrips. I just wanted to let you all know that I have just sold my CBA shared through WalkerCrips and it was remarkably easy. Whole process took about 2 weeks. Fees charged were more than reasonable and am very happy with the whole proiocess. Like NannyJoan48 I have no personal or business connection with WalkerCrips but just want to share with you how easy and inexpensive the process was. David Goymer was my contact and he was great in guiding me through the process. Hope this helps if you are contemplating selling your CBA Shares.

Share Dealing Team 

8 sharedealing@wcgplc.co.uk

8 David.Goymer@wcgplc.co.uk

( Tel: Direct - 0203 100 8678 ; Sharedealing - 0203 100 8400 ; switchboard - 0203 100 8000  

6 Fax: 0203 100 8001

Tinkerbell778

Big Thanks to @NannyJoan48 and @AcciesOK on this. I have just been through the same process and used Walker Crips as you both suggested and successfully managed to sell my shares too and David Goymer was an absolute star. I am sure I drove him mad but he was really patient and so helpful. I couldn't have done it without him!