SVS Securities - shut down?

johnburman

All noted and of course you are correct.  BUT which country's Regulation and framework  protects the consumer in real life better?  UK or Holland..or are they equal?

bowlhead99

johnburman said:

All noted and of course you are correct.  BUT which country's Regulation and framework  protects the consumer in real life better?  UK or Holland..or are they equal?

Frankly the best thing I could recommend to you is to read all the regulation and framework documents published by the Netherlands together with the published history of compliance cases and first hand accounts of business failures in that country that you can find via the regulator, media, personal finance blogs etc etc. Then you can decide for yourself whether you think the regulation, framework and practical application of the rules are consistent, better or worse than what you know about the UK. There is little comfort in concluding that the regulations are broadly consistent, without that real-world day to day experience of the Netherlands financial sector and legal practice.

If you find that research process difficult because you're not familiar with the Netherlands financial sector, legal practice, business liquidations or the language spoken in the country, perhaps you could apply that concept (i.e. the fact that it's difficult doing detailed research on legal nuances in foreign countries) to how you would propose to assert your rights if your Netherlands broker of choice succumbs to fraud or business failure.

Will you have an English-speaking creditors' committee to whom you can introduce yourself and moan about why it is taking a long time and how much you should get back? Would you do as you have been able to do in the case of SVS, and complain to your MP that the regulator and compensation scheme is not adequately protecting you as well as it should? He would probably tell you that it is not his problem, as the failed business is outside his jurisdiction and he no longer has any colleagues who are MEPs.

The takeaway should be that while we can tell you that financial regulation is supposed to be consistent across the EU for the free movement of people and services, we cannot handhold you through the practicalities of how the equivalent of a 'special administration' is going to work after a business failure in a foreign country. Fortunately, Netherlands legal system is based on civil law (i.e. like French or German law, based on written laws and codes) rather than evolving as common law in the UK and USA where the rules are 'whatever is customary, based on case law'. So theoretically you 'should be able to find out' how stuff works once you've learned to speak Dutch, but may need to read plenty of case law and accounts of 'what really happened in the example of ABCXYZ NV', to actually understand nuances.

What I would suggest is that if a business failure follows your choice to have your assets held by a custodian in a foreign country to save you a few pounds of fees, then if something goes wrong and you don't like it, you only have yourself to blame. Technically, you have the business to blame, and you might have a regulator to blame for not helping you more effectively - but that is scant comfort.

It is like getting hit by a truck on a pelican crossing when the light is red for the truck - you can see the truck coming rapidly towards you and you know there's a possibility that he might not stop, but you don't hurry across because you have right of way and it's his fault if he hits you. When you are in hospital you can blame the trucker and his employer and the council or whomever, but practically, you can blame yourself for voluntarily exposing yourself for the risk and hassle, rather than hastily moving out of harm's way.

In a nutshell, that's why I haven't got meaningful amounts of money with brokerage services in other countries.

manorhouse

All very good and thanks for the education .
However the MPs useless when my Bradford  and Bingley shares were stolen a few years back.
And there was an action group fat lot of good that was.
Maybe you have to think about the balance of probability .

Thrugelmir

manorhouse said:

However the MPs useless when my Bradford  and Bingley shares were stolen a few years back.

Stolen?  At least keep to the real facts. 

johnburman

bowlhead99 you have done your best.  Can i be shorter.
1   what is the likelihoond overseas brokerage will break the client segregation rules
2  how strict is the regulator re: 1
3  does th eregualtor accept english emails?
4  is there a compensation scheme and how good is it?
I do not know 1-4 for Trading 212 in Bulgaria, BUT i do know they are regualted by the FSA here
I do not know the Dutch Regs for De giro, nor Italian for Fineco, and therefore I'm not dealing.
and know the compensation limits if you do deal.

masonic

Regarding foreign rules, regulators and compensation schemes, you might get more responses if you started a new thread. There is a limited audience in this one, and it is a very different subject to the one in the thread title. I think everyone who is likely to do so has already opined on the subject.

manorhouse

Yes lets go back to asking why its taking so long .
Much better use of time .

Thrugelmir

manorhouse said:

Yes lets go back to asking why its taking so long .
Much better use of time .

Will help put lock down into context. 

masonic

manorhouse said:

Yes lets go back to asking why its taking so long .
Much better use of time .

You do realise you don't have to confine yourself to a single discussion thread on this forum, don't you? I'm not suggesting people stop discussing other more constructive things - far from it: I'm encouraging that they do so, but in a new environment where they might receive contributions from new people who have something to say that hasn't already been said by the small number of people following this thread.

Clearly hearing the opinions voiced so far isn't bringing satisfaction or closure or the same questions wouldn't have been asked again. If searching for a different response, there is a better chance finding it if you involve some more people in the discussion. People most knowledgeable about foreign rules, regulators and compensation schemes might not click on a thread entitled "SVS Securities - shut down?" Confining discussion about other matters to this thread only serves to reduce the quality of discussion.

It's just a thought, but rather than returning to asking why it is taking so long, perhaps regular posters here could wait until there is something new to discuss about SVS and the administration. Fear not, the thread will not be closed down if there are no new posts for a few days.

johnburman

Thinking which broker is best for ones own specific needs, if the one selected by LC is/may not be suitable, shoudl be of interest to at least a few former SVS clients
Trading 212 has no commisison and no inactivity fees; Degiro is cheap (but overseas with stock lending)) and Fineco are new to me, but cheap and are an Italian bank. All useful stuff I would have thought for SVS clients?

AND
The SVS Creditors Committee meets to-day.  I wonder when we will be told their decision?