SVS Securities - shut down?

ahouse185

As of now, my cash and share account balances have all gone to zero!

Standard_Goose

The cash for the one stock i sold appeared in my account a couple of days later. It was on the iti website account and also appeared in my Phoenix account (I think, but am getting confused by the constant changing of values in my account).

Now, the shares have gone and the money from their sale has gone. Neither are appearing on the website or in my Phoenix account. It's as if they never existed. I am in complete despair at the incompetence of this firm.

Back to writing emails in the morning...

sweeter_strudel

Reading on here about what your Phoenix account shows when you actually get access; and how prices, charges, proceeds and and contract notes are a veritable smorgasbord of chaos, part of me is quite grateful that I still see the Pending Approval message when I try and log in to my accounts.

The calm before the storm....

I emailed ITI compliance in response to their "you can phone us to trade" resspovse to my first complaint;  asking why they thought I had unlimited time in my day to listen to a phone ringing out, leave an answering machine message that I am certain will never get a response - or just getting cut off.

They gave the generic 8001(?) London number - not even a dealing desk number....

shiznit76

all my accounts are now empty also, what the hell is going on with this mob?

rnf11

Could- it - at - last - be - that - transfers - are - actually -  being - progressed???

shiznit76

rnf11 said:

Could- it - at - last - be - that - transfers - are - actually -  being - progressed???

love your optimism! 

shiznit76

Who can i turn to for help, this is getting desperate. Been unable to touch my holdings for over a year now and want my money out and away from ITI ASAP. I contacted the broker who is dealing with my transfer and they have heard nothing from ITI so it is not like the transfer has been made hence my zero holdings. 

Jamesram

Response today from LC :"Thank you for your reply.  With regard to your question about the ITI custody charge, which is due to come into effect when they apply their own rate card to transferred SVS clients at the end of the grace period, I have raised that question with my manager and it will be added to the agenda in the next weekly update meeting held with ITI on Wednesday this week. As you say, it would seem very unfair for ITI to charge the fee to clients who have long since requested transfers out which have only been delayed in being actioned due to ITI.  However, whether or not ITI elect to enforce that charge will be at their discretion."  Craig Harrison For the Joint Special Administrators.

As regards ISA transfers in particular, tacked on to the Private Client Terms of Business as Annex VII is this:-

"If the Client holds an Individual Savings Account (ISA) [..........] with the Company, the terms and conditions previously provided to the Client by the Company (the “ISA Terms”) shall continue to govern such Services. You are remind  [sic] the company does not provide any advice on taxation and/or investments with an ISA.
For the avoidance of doubt, in the event of any conflict between these Terms and the ISA Terms, the ISA Terms shall take precedence and no provision of the Terms shall be construed to create or apply any rights over the Client’s ISA that are inconsistent with or contrary to the ISA Regulations"

I cannot find ANY "ISA Terms" on ITI's website and certainly noe ghave been provided to me, and ITI acknowledge that in any case, the ISA Regulations prevail (pretty obvious that they do of course, but it helps that this is clearly admitted. The point of my stating all this is the fact that in the absence of any ISA Term requirements from the Existing ISA Manager (ITI), the rules should prevail and ITI immediately the intended New ISA Manager ,eg iWeb in my case, has notified ITI of the required transfer ITI has 30 days to complete the transfer process AND it has no entitlement to demand any further action by us as investors- we should not have to fill in forms, send additional ID etc etc. 

 https://www.gov.uk/guidance/transfer-an-isa-if-youre-an-isa-manager#transfer-apps

"Investors have the right to transfer their ISAs whenever they want and this right must be included in the manager’s ISA terms and conditions.They do this by making a transfer application to the new manager, they cannot transfer an ISA by closing it and paying the proceeds into a new ISA with the new ISA manager." [ I wanted to make this clear because there has been some suggestion that we could ask for an account closure to help progress- certainly don't do this with an ISA- you will lose the tax wrapper]

and now see  https://www.gov.uk/individual-savings-accounts/transferring-your-isa

"How to transfer your ISA

To switch providers, contact the ISA provider you want to move to and fill out an ISA transfer form to move your account. If you withdraw the money without doing this, you will not be able to reinvest that part of your tax-free allowance again.

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."

So ITI have 30 straight days max from the date they receive the ISA transfer request- arguably a bit less the protocol does'nt mention time of receipt, but lets assume that. They have held all our funds including ISA funds since 11 June. The question about onboarding and the red box when some people answered NO just adds complication it seems to me- I would suggest that in all cases where an ISA transfer is sought then the investor MUST ask the new ISA manager to instruct ITI, on your behalf, to transfer over. You will need of course to complete the new ISA manager's Transfer form- they all have them on their websites for you to download and post off to them. Otherwise you are trusting ITI to do this on your behalf, which is not normal process. Personally I have sent copies of my iWeb ISA Transfer Request forms to ITI account management as email attachments, to try and ensure that they cannot claim non-receipt from iWeb.

Sorry if all this is blindingly obvious to many, but I felt it should be stated.

As for ENFORCEMENT- we are back to the Ombudsman's office and its 4 month delay. I have no suggestions other than that the Sharesoc involvement looks like the best chance of help.

My2penneth

I emailed ITI Capital with a couple of questions over the weekend. I got a reply this morning...unfortunately the answers weren't related to the questions!  It was also suggested that I close down accounts from their end and that if I didn't give the account numbers I was transferring to it would delay the process.....what a cheek! I've sent them two sets of paperwork which they have lost. Surely they are in breach of GDPR if they can't find my paperwork..where is it?

Danie6

Something I have noticed during all  our complaints - I cannot remember seeing any complaint from FX/CFD traders. As far as I know this was part of the SVS product mix. I understand that this type of trading is very risky and of a very short term nature. You also get the warning on any FX trading website, including that of SVS, that you can not only loose all your capital, but also more than your investment. So if the market turns its back on you, you can end up with debt to the broker as well. That's really bad news. In the SVS case all portfolios were locked for 13 months already and I think LC are liquidators, not brokers. They would therefore not trade any assets, and presumably also not those of FX/CFD customers as well. In addition to that, the FSCS tell us that losses incurred during the special administration period are not covered for compensation. They only eventually return your stuff to you. If this was the situation with SVS then the ex SVS customers doing FX/CFD's must be in deep trouble. So why don't they complain? Are they treated differently, or not, and how? What happened to their investments?
Further - what about ITI's FX/CFD existing clients if they go bust, something I expect to happen soon? Recommendations that you can read on Investopedia state that you must do your due diligence with care to make sure that your chosen broker for FX/CFD trading is in good financial health. I am a bit confused. Can someone please clarify?