SVS Securities - shut down?

Monsieur_Bourse

You can register free for Times articles if you`re a bit short!

So does this mean that The Times has a heightism policy.

johnburman

M-Bourse...you are a card!
As to the rest just remember that the MAX the FSCS will pay our for any one person is £85k.  So if you are a big account holder in cash or shares or both the most you will ever get is £85k plus remember that any special administrator will take a min of £5k per client for the administration (and the formula they use for this is somewhat complex).

So if you have a hefty investor you need a number of brokers to be sure. 

PS: why can't the brokers have some sort of warranty system (like NHBC for builders, or the Law Society Compensation Fund for Solicitors) so if any of them go bust, there is a fund/insurer who will stand behind them if they 'get into difficulties.'  This gets over the small size of the FSCS limit.  Of course if the FSCS were to have a sensible limit of £1m, we would not need this discussion. 

johnburman

Extract from email sent to me by the FCA.

Ms Samantha Stewart is your initial contact at th eFCA

My bold by the way 

========
I understand that you have contacted us with a letter of your complaint to ITI Capital and you want to know if the FCA will be taking any action against the firm. I can appreciate that this must be an incredibly frustrating situation for you.

I can also see that you spoke to my colleague Jerome about this matter on 11 August 2020 and I want to thank you for taking the time to send us additional information.

What I have done with this information

Whilst I can’t confirm what action the FCA will be taking in this matter, I do want to let you know what I have done with this information. As the regulator, we are interested in any information about the firms who are authorised by us and given the situation I can appreciate why you have contacted the FCA. The information you provide to us helps us understand what is happening within the industry and how firms are treating their customers.

We have Supervision Teams who oversee the conduct of the firms we authorise and I want to let you know that I have made the information you have provided about what’s been happening with ITI Capital available to the team who are responsible for overseeing them and their conduct.

I do want to let you know though, I won’t be able to let you know what we do with the information or provide you with any feedback, as this forms part of our supervisory work, which is confidential but I would like to thank you for taking the time to contact us about this.

Making a formal complaint

You’ve done the right thing by making a formal complaint to ITI Capital if you’re unhappy with the situation or if you feel you have been treated unfairly. We have more information about the complaints process on our website (including a step by step guide) which you may find useful.

Thank you once again for taking the time to contact the FCA and I do wish you all the best in resolving this to your satisfaction.

Yours sincerely  

Samantha Stewart (Ms)
Supervisor | Supervision Hub
Financial Conduct Authority | www.fca.org.uk
Consumer Helpline: 0300 500 8082

My2penneth

Well done JohnB for complaining to the FCA.
One positive thing that should come out of this will no doubt be an increase into the 6 month get out of ITI Capital for free card. 
Folks - note the FCA number at the bottom.

johnburman

".....no doubt be an increase into the 6 month get out of ITI Capital for free "   
Don't be so fast.  This is a company that has obvious problems but according to their out of date message on their website all is well save for a few "teething problems" . 

The fact is that I can nether trade or get access to my funds; my request for return of said funds has been ignored; my requests as recorded in tickets are still "open" and they don't answer the customer helpline.  Oh and i have requested transfers out of all accounts to new broker and they have thus far ignored those.  I sure as hell wast out NOW, I don't want to wait 6 days, let alone 6 months!

I wonder what they have told the FCA?  That is why we all must complain to the Regulator.  as they said in their latter to me :
You’ve done the right thing by making a formal complaint to ITI Capital if you’re unhappy with the situation or if you feel you have been treated unfairly.  

Others reading this, who have the same problems should do likewise

sweeter_strudel

Transferring out.....
I was clicking around the iWeb site and thought I'd prepare a paper transfer form for the last bits of my ISA to be extracted from ITI. (The first bit of course is still firmly mired in the ITI shambles with no known time of arrival.) I was delighted to see that ITI were a recognised provider and had their details available to be selected from a list in a drop down box. I was less pleased when it immediately opened a warning box that said "We are facing delays with transfers from this provider due to high volumes."

Out of curiosity I pretended to transfer from other brokers to see what was said about them. My random list produced the following:

Interactive Investor said 62 days
AJ Bell 52 days
Charles Stanley 50 days
Jarvis 32 days

...back to my doomed feeling.

johnburman

sweeter_strudel this was not on the IWEB site when i applied for a transfer some 18 days ago!
  
Go here to the gov website https://www.gov.uk/individual-savings-accounts/transferring-your-isa#:~:text=ISA%20transfers%20should%20take%20no,for%20other%20types%20of%20transfer
and it says: 

Deadlines and complaints

ISA transfers should take no longer than:

• 15 working days for transfers between cash ISAs
• 30 calendar days for other types of transfer

If you want to transfer investments held in an innovative finance ISA, ask your provider how long it will take.

If your transfer takes longer than it should, contact your ISA provider.

If you’re unhappy with the response, you can take the matter up with the Financial Ombudsman Service.

Financial Ombudsman Service
Telephone (for landlines): 0800 023 4567
Telephone (for mobiles): 0300 123 9123
Monday to Friday, 8am to 8pm
Saturday, 9am to 1pm

I'm giving ITI Capital exactly 31 days to do the transfer before complaining to the FOS - i want compensation.  i suggest you do likewise.

masonic

Some might be interested in a recent experience of a S&S ISA transfer from Vanguard to Interactive Investor, in short 17th April - 16th August (just over 17 weeks). Both providers are members of the TISA Exchange, which facilitates electronic ISA transfers. ITI is not a member, so all communications will be by post, which will tend to slow things down.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/77496611/#Comment_77496611

My2penneth

iWeb acknowledged receipt of my completed transfer request form by 4th August. I know that at the time ITI Capital were not on  the list and I had to fill in their address manually. They've obviously seen a high volume of transfer requests out of ITI capital to the extent that they have responded by adding them to their list!. 



I thought it was the responsibility of iWeb to get the assets within 30 days in normal times (hey, Covid 19) ? 

masonic

johnburman said:

I'm giving ITI Capital exactly 31 days to do the transfer before complaining to the FOS - i want compensation.  i suggest you do likewise.

You cannot complain to the FOS until you have complained to the relevant firm (this would normally be iWeb, but could be ITI if you have evidence they are responsible for the delay). Only once you have received a final response or after 8 weeks (whichever comes sooner), can you complain to the FOS.

Hence pursuing a line of complaint with ITI around their non-response to your transfer request before the 30 days is up might be worthwhile. Even if you complained tomorrow, the earliest you could take it to the FOS is mid-October assuming ITI is no more efficient in resolving complaints as they are responding to transfer requests. Of course it's possible ITI might offer you a suitable resolution within that 8 week period.