SVS Securities - shut down?

My2penneth

I see ITI are advertising that they have 30,000 clients...probably 22,000 came from SVS.

My2penneth

LC issued a statement of accounts in May which detailed holdings (shares & cash) and dividends accrued. I noted that certain payments were missing - predominately from iShares ETFs. Does anyone know if the situation has been resolved - separately, I have emailed LC to inquire.

EdGasketTheSecond

johnburman said:

eleven initial offers were received - love to know who they were and whay they did not proceed?

Bungs were not big enough

My2penneth

I received replies (one for me and one for the wife's accounts) - both within half an hour of sending the email requests.

REPLY

"I’m afraid the outstanding iShares dividends are yet to be credited to your account, but our team are continuing to liaise with the registrars concerned to have these credited as soon as possible – preferably prior to the physical transfer of client accounts to ITI Capital Limited. If they are not received until after the transfer, they will be moved across to ITI Capital in a post-transfer sweep of client monies received."

My2penneth

I've mentioned before, we (my wife & I) had 2 accounts each with SVS.  I've checked through the records from the administrator and they have captured ALL due dividends to date -16th June -  (with the exception of the iShares and SSGA ETF dividends) which they know about. 

johnburman

Below from an online paper called the Fintech Times:
the bit I have emboldened about service and price is interesting.  He is right about service, ITI will allow you to gamble/invest in many more securities, but is the "competitive price" bit true: I DO NOT THINK SO.   They want the 'high rollers' not the XO clients, is my guess.

=======

UK-Based international financial services company, ITI Capital, acquires client book from SVS Securities

by Manisha PatelJune 18, 2020

ITI Capital https://iticapital.com/, the FCA-regulated, UK-based global financial services provider for institutional investors and private clients, today announces it has acquired the client book from SVS Securities, which was placed in Special Administration on 5 August 2019. The vast majority of SVS’s clients will become client of ITI on June 11th 2020, and they will have access to their money and assets again from as early as mid-July.

This move also means SVS Securities clients, who previously could only trade in LSE stocks, will now have a global selection of asset classes to choose from, including FX trading, and pricing will remain competitive to what was previously paid at SVS.

Furthermore, client trading will be aided by ITI’s transparent robo-advisory and discretionary services, which are facilitated by cutting edge fintech, and high-end artificial intelligence and machine-learning technologies.

ITI, which is based in London and have been regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) since 2001, has over 220 employees globally, and manages over 30,000 clients across multiple countries in three different continents.

Rahul Agarwal, Managing Director for private clients UK, comments:

“We are thrilled to welcome the SVS client base to ITI and we are confident that we will be able to deliver a much superior proposition at a competitive price to the client base. These clients will be able to trade almost any asset class, globally, all via a single online platform. Our advisory service is a true hybrid model where we plan on leveraging technology to offer a customised as well as an automated advisory service. All of this accompanied with our commitment to brilliant customer service.

We appreciate the client base has not had access to their assets in nearly a year and this is difficult. We are doing what we can to speed up the process for these clients.”

Leonardo Brummas Carvalho, CEO of Wealth Management for ITI Capital, comments:

“This acquisition positions us well for our next phase of growth with regards to our digital advisory, discretionary and FX business for traders and brokers. We are very excited to expand our client base and are confident we can continue to develop our high-quality financial advisory services, facilitated by cutting edge fintech. Despite widespread disruption caused by the current climate around the Covid-19 outbreak, we are confident in our ability to grow and develop alongside our clientele.”

bowlhead99

johnburman said:

Below from an online paper called the Fintech Times:
the bit I have emboldened about service and price is interesting.  He is right about service, ITI will allow you to gamble/invest in many more securities, but is the "competitive price" bit true: I DO NOT THINK SO.   They want the 'high rollers' not the XO clients, is my guess.

Well, they are saying they have a superior proposition (more asset classes available, and not in liquidation, both of those things contributing to a 'superior proposition') and presumably the price is competitive for what is offered otherwise they would not have any customers. A service proposition can be competitive without being the very cheapest option available.

Of course, if you don't want the ability to trade 'almost any asset class globally via a single online platform', or any advisory services, then they are not saying that the price is going to be the cheapest in town. If you are going to cherry pick the simplest and cheapest service from among the things that they offer, because that's all you want, I expect you will move your business to a provider that offers a simple cheap service. That doesn't make the more comprehensive service 'uncompetitive' for what it is, it's just not a set of bells and whistles that you're interested in buying. 'High Rollers' don't necessarily want them all either, but may not be so cost-conscious as to (e.g.) seek out four different services from four different providers to get 'cheapest in class' for all services separately.  But if you only want one service I expect you'll simply move to the cheapest or most user-friendly place you can find for that service.

For example for a simple cheap UK brokerage (which has no ongoing custody fee and easy conversion to paper shares if wanted) the Jarvis service at x-o.co.uk has been fine for me, though my ISA and SIPP and spreadbet accounts are elsewhere because I want to hold things in those accounts that X-O don't offer (such as investments that aren't tradeable on the London stock and bond markets, derivatives etc).  Obviously after 1500 posts in the thread the various other competing rivals will mostly have been mentioned somewhere.

Once execution only clients' shares have landed at ITI and people have the chance to do something with them, some will already have an onwards destination in mind, and ITI will be aware of that when pitching to take on the business, hoping some of it at least will be 'sticky' given they will have to take a bath on fees to take over the SVS client book and get a lot of client volume in the door. But you can't blame them saying in a press release that they have a comprehensive service and that they price competitively.

pafpcg

johnburman said:

Below from an online paper called the Fintech Times:
..............................
This move also means SVS Securities clients, who previously could only trade in LSE stocks, will now have a global selection of asset classes to choose from, including FX trading, and pricing will remain competitive to what was previously paid at SVS.
...........................

Well, it's true isn't it?  Honest!

SVS clients will continue to pay the same level of fees as at SVS*.

Perhaps INI see their competition in the form of St James Place and their ilk? Certainly, if you consider their emphasis on having offices outside the UK (Russia, Cyprus, Qatar, etc), maybe the bulk of the non-SVS clients have different requirements and live in very different circumstances.

* The small print: - it's only for for three months!

EDIT 19-June:  oops! - SVS accounts being transferred to ITI (not INI) - apologies.

pafpcg

bowlhead99 said:

........
For example for a simple cheap UK brokerage (which has no ongoing custody fee and easy conversion to paper shares if wanted) the Jarvis service at x-o.co.uk has been fine for me, ............

Mentioning of Jarvis X-O reminds me that I got a glimpse of a new feature at JarvisX-O yesterday.  There will be the option to withdraw funds to our nominated bank account directly from the web-site, rather than having to email the request.  When I queried why it wasn't working for me, I got a rapid response along the lines of: "You shouldn't have seen that!  It's in a new release of the web-site that's still being tested."  Ah, well - so long as it's ready for July 24th (or whenever I can extricate my ex-SVS assets from ITI).

masonic

pafpcg said:

Perhaps INI...

I can't resist asking, why do you refer to ITI as INI? Am I missing a joke?