SVS Securities - shut down?

johnburman

For Olderbutnotwiser 
Action Fraud Solicitors are not solicitors.  Go here to check https://solicitors.lawsociety.org.uk/?Pro=True
dont_look_now
Tnx.  HSBC looks interesting as does Fidelity (I did not know you could buy shares through Fidelity)  

manorhouse and others
I just want a basic XO service with TRANSPARENT charging; no platform or inactivity (or hidden) fees.  And I do not want something for nothing, just fees I can understand (unlike most FS companies of the past and St James Palce and Chase De Vere...etc. etc.) 

Thrugelmir

johnburman said:

I have found the comments on the various 'discount' (but reliable and secure) XO brokers VERY interesting. 

Platform fees; exit fees; "inactivity" fees are all a no no in my book - I want full transparency on fees and charges. HL and iWEB seem to te the best.   Javis looks cheap and cheerful but it looks too 'SVS-like' . 

Could I say I am interested in XO only, no FX and quoted on the LSE only (although I wonder if that is too narrow).  Even so a number of my ETFs pay in $ or even EURO, and so no rip off exchange fees please (although I expect to bear a small 'conversion' fee - although why I expect to pay this I really do not know!)       

XO is the retail consumer arm. If you want the full works. The parent company Jarvis Investment Managers offers the full range of stockbroking services (at a cost). 

olderbutnowiser

johnburman said:

For Olderbutnotwiser 
Action Fraud Solicitors are not solicitors.  Go here to check https://solicitors.lawsociety.org.uk/?Pro=True

Never thought for a minute that they were legit - just another bunch of spammers. Purpose of my post was merely to point out that they were the latest, persistent bunch and to see if others were equally affected.

LEAR1

leonde said:

When I did my research a few months ago (may be out of date, and include charged assuming a small portfolio with comparatively few trades a year),

I had the following data:

iweb: £5 per trade; no platform fees

x-o.co.uk: £5.95 per trade; no platform fees; £15 per stock transfer out fee

Saxo Markets: £4.99 per trade; 0.12% per year platform fee & £25 per quarter inactivity fee if no shares traded. Transfer out fee "50 EUR per ISIN (max. 160 EUR)".

IG Share Dealing: £8 per trade; £24 per quarter if less than three trades made.

Interactive Investor: £7.99 per trade; £9.99 a month platform fee including one free trade a month.

Hargreaves Lansdown: £11.95 per trade. £25 per stock transfer out fee.

For Barclays, their calculator gave me a value of £201.99 a year with "up to 25 trades", and £351.99 a year with "up to 50 trades".

When I was investigating providers awhile back, this site was extremely useful: https://monevator.com/compare-uk-cheapest-online-brokers/.
It's probably not 100% accurate, but was a very good starting point for narrowing down providers to look at in more detail. Looks like the data was updated in early 2019, so hopefully still quite current.

NB, ref HL, there's no longer a transfer-out fee.

dont_look_now

Just considering holding shares in an ISA (for holding funds, or for other account types, the options are slightly different), and if you want to pay no more than £50 a year in fixed/capped charges (for just holding, not trading), with dealing commissions no higher than £12.50, then IMHO you have plenty of platforms which look pretty stable.

Owned by a big bank:

IWeb / Halifax Share Dealing / Lloyds Bank Share Dealing (parent: Lloyds Bank Group)

First Direct Sharedealing / HSBC Investdirect (parent: HSBC)

Owned by extremely big private company:

Fidelity (parent: Fidelity International)

Big, publicly quoted, consistently profitable, stand-alone platform business:

Hargreaves Lansdown (in FTSE 100)

AJ Bell Youinvest (parent: AJ Bell; in FTSE 250)

To my mind, all the above are pretty conservative choices. Your views may differ. I'm less certain of the ones below. Again, you may think differently.

Others:

Saga Share Direct (service actually provided by: Equniti, a FTSE 250 company with a difficult-to-characterize mixture of service and payments businesses, which has posted 3 consecutive years of profits, but interest on debt is only covered about 3X by operating profits, and if you stripped out intangibles then net assets would be negative)

x-o.co.uk (parent: Jarvis Investment Management, a small AIM-listed stockbroker; has been consistently profitable, and does have positive assets excluding intangibles, but just a bit small for my liking)

IDealing (small, privately held, stockbroker; last accounts show them swinging from a loss to profit due to higher interest earned on clients' cash balances; so it's the smallest business of those I've mentioned, and not consistently profitable)

Thrugelmir

dont_look_now said:

Idealing (small, privately held, stockbroker; last accounts show them swinging from a loss to profit due to higher interest earned on clients' cash balances; so it's the smallest business of those I've mentioned, and not consistently profitable)

What do you think underpins the profitability of companies such as Hargreaves Lansdown? 

dont_look_now

Thrugelmir said:

dont_look_now said:

Idealing (small, privately held, stockbroker; last accounts show them swinging from a loss to profit due to higher interest earned on clients' cash balances; so it's the smallest business of those I've mentioned, and not consistently profitable)

What do you think underpins the profitability of companies such as Hargreaves Lansdown? 

Have you read HL's accounts? Interest on client cash is one of their income streams, but they would still be profitable if they received zilch from that.

Thrugelmir

dont_look_now said:

Thrugelmir said:

dont_look_now said:

Idealing (small, privately held, stockbroker; last accounts show them swinging from a loss to profit due to higher interest earned on clients' cash balances; so it's the smallest business of those I've mentioned, and not consistently profitable)

What do you think underpins the profitability of companies such as Hargreaves Lansdown? 

Have you read HL's accounts? Interest on client cash is one of their income streams, but they would still be profitable if they received zilch from that.

Over the years has been a major driver. Over the past decade of course, interest rates have fallen. 

dont_look_now

Thrugelmir said:

dont_look_now said:

Thrugelmir said:

dont_look_now said:

Idealing (small, privately held, stockbroker; last accounts show them swinging from a loss to profit due to higher interest earned on clients' cash balances; so it's the smallest business of those I've mentioned, and not consistently profitable)

What do you think underpins the profitability of companies such as Hargreaves Lansdown? 

Have you read HL's accounts? Interest on client cash is one of their income streams, but they would still be profitable if they received zilch from that.

Over the years has been a major driver. Over the past decade of course, interest rates have fallen. 

Yes, the business models of stockbrokers have had to adjust to the low interest rate environment. My feeling is that they should have adjusted by now, so I would like them to be profitable however low rates go.

Thrugelmir

dont_look_now said:

Thrugelmir said:

dont_look_now said:

Thrugelmir said:

dont_look_now said:

Idealing (small, privately held, stockbroker; last accounts show them swinging from a loss to profit due to higher interest earned on clients' cash balances; so it's the smallest business of those I've mentioned, and not consistently profitable)

What do you think underpins the profitability of companies such as Hargreaves Lansdown? 

Have you read HL's accounts? Interest on client cash is one of their income streams, but they would still be profitable if they received zilch from that.

Over the years has been a major driver. Over the past decade of course, interest rates have fallen. 

Yes, the business models of stockbrokers have had to adjust to the low interest rate environment. My feeling is that they should have adjusted by now, so I would like them to be profitable however low rates go.

Lack of IPO's and the decreasing number of listed companies is taking it's toll.