SVS Securities - shut down?

My2penneth

Accounts are frozen. They will be for several months. The next update will be end of September 19.

Previous posts discuss the likely outcomes with reasoning.

The posts are ( imho) honest opinions and worth spending 15 mins reading through.

The posts cover timescales, protection of peoples money, previous cases when a broker goes into administration, handling of dividends, possible transfer of shares to another platform, peoples experience with SVS ( good and bad).

user1168934

Thanks, one more question though. Is there a way to obtain a statement or something for what stocks (and how many) and cash I had in my account?

I have a rough idea how much I had in terms of value but I don't know exactly the number of shares and the cash amount sitting in there. I was reading online and there was talk about a "claims process". Do we have to provide this info when making a claim?

masonic

user1168934 wrote: »

Thanks, one more question though. Is there a way to obtain a statement or something for what stocks (and how many) and cash I had in my account?

I have a rough idea how much I had in terms of value but I don't know exactly the number of shares and the cash amount sitting in there. I was reading online and there was talk about a "claims process". Do we have to provide this info when making a claim?

You will be provided with a summary of your investments and cash in due course. There is no indication that a formal claim will need to be made at this stage.

Crossy1

I used SVS and have shares with them so I fully understand the worry this is causing. I would like to thank the contributors to this board with their posts that have eased my mind. It is definitely worth reading through them all.As I understand it the most likely outcome is our shares will at some point be transferred to another broker,at that point we can trade again. I quote from This is Money website "Clients money and shares will be returned to them, and will not be used to pay off any SVS debts",Leonard Curtis said (Administrators). We are also protected through FCA who will cover losses up to £85000 if there is a shortfall due to wrongdoing or poor accounting. Of course the big problem is at the moment and most likely for a few months we are unable to trade our shares, if you had no plans to then that is fine but if a share rises sharply or falls there is nothing you can do to either take profits or avoid loses.

user1168934

Slightly off-topic question. I have not deposited any money into the SVS ISA this tax year as I was preparing to switch providers by opening a new S&S ISA. The original plan was to move investments slowly to the new account.

Given the situation, is it ok to open a new account with another provider while things are being sorted at SVS or will it create any problems? I will be funding new account with the money I have in my savings account at the moment.

badger09

user1168934 wrote: »

Slightly off-topic question. I have not deposited any money into the SVS ISA this tax year as I was preparing to switch providers by opening a new S&S ISA. The original plan was to move investments slowly to the new account.

Given the situation, is it ok to open a new account with another provider while things are being sorted at SVS or will it create any problems? I will be funding new account with the money I have in my savings account at the moment.

Yes that's fine

You can open another S&S ISA with a different provider and pay new money into it.

When you have access to your SVS ISA you will be able to transfer it either into the new one you're about to open, or into an entirely different one.

What you can't do is pay new money into more than 1 S&S ISA at a time.

My2penneth

user1168934 wrote: »

Slightly off-topic question. I have not deposited any money into the SVS ISA this tax year as I was preparing to switch providers by opening a new S&S ISA. The original plan was to move investments slowly to the new account.

Given the situation, is it ok to open a new account with another provider while things are being sorted at SVS or will it create any problems? I will be funding new account with the money I have in my savings account at the moment.

Yes, you can go ahead and open up a new account with a new provider to use this years ISA allowance - there's nothing illegal about using this years entitlement.

Your existing ISA holdings with SVS - if they are transferred are very likely to keep their ISA status - note however, Leonard Curtis say that they "will liase with HMRC as regards maintaining the tax status of ISAs". - this covers their derrieres IF they can't - though they would have to have a good excuse not to agree this).

(Note - a precedence was set last year when Beaufort Securities ISA accounts handled by PwC last year were transferred to a new provider, they preserved their ISA status).

In conclusion - you will probably end up with 2 ISA accounts one with your new chosen platform and another on a different platform (unless of course, your choice is the same as LC's choice, then it might be just 1 platform !!)

We will know how this pans out in due course. I should add I'm not a lawyer and do not offer legal advice. The view above should be confirmed with your chosen new provider.

Chasweekly

Thanks to all for very informative thread. I have a slightly different issue I would like to air ...

On Monday 5th at around 6.30pm, unaware of the dramas that had taken place at SVS earlier in the day, I made a faster BACS transfer of £600 into my dealing account with the intention of buying some shares next day. On logging on next day I found that SVS had been put into special administration and it was not possible to log into my account. On checking my bank account I found that the transfer had not bounced. In fact it has still not been returned. So I am not sure where this money is.

I have spoken face to face with someone at my bank who said they were unable to retrieve the money. If not returned within an hour or two money can be assumed to hit the target account. The bank employee has however made a full record of the problem and I have full details of the transaction.

Now, I realize most on here will think me pretty stupid for not checking my SVS account was ok, immediately prior to making the payment. I hold my hands up to that. Usually I would check but this time for some reason I neglected to do so – sod’s law, very bad timing!

The administration was actioned at 12.25pm on Monday according to the website, so why was my payment been accepted 6 hours later? Should it not have bounced? And, where is my £600 sitting now? Advice appreciated!

johnburman

Lots of sensible comments here from worried clients (including me!)

But as My2penneth says:

I'm still waiting to hear the reason why the curtains were pulled down.

So am I. And so are a lot of you.

Malthusian

johnburman wrote: »

But as My2penneth says:

I'm still waiting to hear the reason why the curtains were pulled down.

I think it probably has a lot to do with this.

Robster88 wrote: »

When I didn't pick up, they would leave urgent sounding messages that made me think it was some news about the shares that I already had, so (to begin with) I would always phone back to find out it was just some 'amazing' investment opportunity they wanted me to sign up to.

I am curious as to what exactly juliamarsh succumbed to, but it is rubbernecking so I understand if she doesn't want to say.