SVS Securities - shut down?

Josl

Josl said:

Michael_Reynolds said:

Can you point me to online evidence of this? If it's true it's dynamite. If the FCA and LC didn't fully disclose this information to Mr. Justice Miles then it seems to me we have a watertight case? LC and the FCA were obliged to do their homework before approving ITI as suitable successor to SVS Securities. Ignorance is no defense. As yet I haven't found anything online about fraud or being banned in the USA? I'm itching to get stuck into LC!

I put the same question to LC and the manager replied "Broker is fully regulated by the FCA and this appointment was approved by the FCA therefore if i have a complaint as to way ITI should not be operating then I'll have to take it up with the FCA" 
Total lack of responsibility shown by LC

Emillion1

Changing back office systems is a nightmare and fraught with problems. LC were made aware of this. They should have allowed clients to continue on the existing software whilst creating a data extraction program.  The data could then have been deposited in a dummy environment and sense checked before going live.  SVS will have millions of data entries via its back office software.  

johnburman

Josl  you say Total lack of responsibility shown by LC which may or may not be true, but the point is legally they have discharged their duty.  They have sold their book of clients to a FCA regulated entity in a transaction approved by the Court and one not objected to by the FCA.  Now it is clear to all, well me at least look at my posts from June, that ITI were a small specialised brokerage that wanted FX and CFD clients trading on margin not poor XO clients.  They had 6 weeks to test the systems ( from June to 23 July) and then on 23 July we woudl all have access to out assets and ££.  that did not happen and does not happen to-day.  BUT even so with the fees charges, let alone the chequered histroy of ITI (not to mention the FCA fine and enforcement)  ITI were never likely to be home for a huge number of XO clients who would transfer out. WHY DID NOT ITI PLAN FOR THIS IN ITS RECRUITMENT OF STAFF?  In fact the systems they have are wholly inadequate and more and more wanted to transfer out.  My transfers went in in later July (I was one of the early ones) and no transfer has taken place.  For reasons that fail me the FCA seem to be doing nothing...but there must be a limit to their inaction.  I was told by ITI that they had recurited ony 5 staff in July to dela with 20k SVS clients and this has been increased by 7 (someone on this forum reported).  Srill wholly inadequate.
My point is this is not for LC, it is for the FCA to deal with ITI.  My fear is that the FCA are beign given "teething troubles" excuses by ITI when we all know differently.  The sole question to ask (of the FCA and ITI) is "WHEN WILL MY TRANSFER BE COMPLETED - I WANT A DATE."  We can deal with the mess after the transfers are completed.  Questions of valuation; Phoenix; dividends etc. are all secondary - we need the transfers to be completed before ITI is shut down, which must be looking likely even to the timid and (to investors) gultess FCA. 

n_aftab

Josl said:

n_aftab said:

Message for Clients of SVS Securities

Updated 14/09/2020

ITI Capital is fully aware of its responsibilities in safeguarding client assets and the importance of onboarding new clients efficiently. Unfortunately, ITI has suffered certain technical problems during this on boarding process which has caused delays and regrets the anxiety and inconvenience this may have caused to those clients who tried to access their accounts. ITI is working hard to resolve these issues as quickly as possible and to increase staffing levels to support the higher call volumes from affected clients caused by the initial technical challenges.

We would like to make it clear that all assets, cash and investments are completely safe. The issue is one of data reconciliation not one concerning location of the assets, cash and investments. We are seeking to ensure all new accounts are reconciled as soon as possible. We are providing the FCA with regular updates and such information as they may require and are working round the clock with, our service providers to ensure that the problems with onboarding and reconciliation are quickly addressed. 

We would also like to thank clients for patience whilst we complete the migration process and will keep providing regular updates to all our customers. As previously communicated to SVS customers, they have the ability to call in and place orders over the phone with Dealers and ITI will honour the online rate. ITI will now place trades for all customers over the phone, subject to call-handling times during volatile markets, regardless of the status of the client’s registration. The client will be required to validate their personal information before the trade instruction is accepted.

I got the same offer from their compliance! How are they (ITI Capital) proposing to place my orders since my temporary accounts (setup for onboarding) were closed on 05-Aug? Trade without holding an active account is breach of financial regulation itself.

I am in the same boat, i declined to be their client and asked to be transferred out .. and have been left in limbo since then.

johnburman

And they (ITI) insisted I close my accounts prior to transferring.  I have done so, and like n-aftab I am in limbo

shawdon

A little more pressure being applied in my email to Rahul Agarwal:

Rahul,

Good morning to you. As I have still had no reply from David Moss to any of my emails including the one below, I thought I would give you the chance to reply before my meeting with my MP, Dominic Raab later this week. Dominic's PA has asked me to ensure I have all the relevant information with me before the meeting as his time is precious. In essence I need acknowledgement that my transfer requests from ITI to HL are being processed as they are now nearly 5 weeks late and I need clarification of where my son's shares have disappeared to as his holding has shrunk from around £130k when transferred from LC to around £16k today with only one share, Royal Dutch Shell still appearing on his dashboard. I am also awaiting clarification of the ISA status of my accounts as none of the accounts transferred from LC are marked up on your system as ISA's. Finally I am waiting for an audit trail of the dividend payments received since the transfer from LC, as I can see no statement of the amounts earned and the dates paid which may cause HMRC reporting issues.

I look forward a rapid response and maybe even an apology for the very poor level of customer service I have received so far from ITI.

Thank you

xxxx xxxx

sweetsand

This is a fiasco on a scale that makes mt Everest look like a sinkhole.
Complain and complain to the financial ombudsman - just a few sentences - they take a while but its worth it.
Seek compensation as this is the biggest joke I have ever seen.

shawdon

Update to previous post:
I think i may have found a way forward. Rahul replied to the email above within 90 seconds and promised me a full update by COB today and gave me confidence that bulk transfers to HL are now being processed as an urgent priority!

Jamesram

Very interesting information emerging from FCA site. Linked firms include Sova who have a striking similarity to ITI in their website presentation and Russian directors. Sova have specific restrictions imposed on them in their trading activity. there are also Sova links to current ITI employees but I can't currently trace them- the name Sova has come up before.

The linked firm Forex Capital Markets Limited (“FXCM Ltd”) were indeed fined £4 million in 2014 It would have been £5 million plus but for an admission of liability. That seems quite a serious and heavy fine to me.The FCA Final Notice makes interesting reading- you can Google a PDF download . I don't know what the history is between the 2 companies, but it was sufficient for the FCA to register that connection  themselves. Here are a couple of snippets from the Final Notice imposing the financial penalty

"2.1 From 1 August 2006 to 17 December 2010, FXCM Ltd treated its customers unfairly because it failed to pass on favourable price movements to its customers and instead the FXCM Group retained the benefit."

"2.10  The Authority considers this breach to be serious because the failure to notify the Authority revealed a systemic weakness in FXCM UK’s systems and controls to ensure that relevant regulatory information was captured and its regulatory reporting obligations were satisfactorily met."

Meanwhile people have asked about the  Mr Chris Smith who phoned me yesterday. He is on Linkd in as ITI  Head of London Operations,  since June this year. According to Linkdin he seems to have been on holiday prior to that- he left work at  IG in September 2018.

He says "I am very detail orientated and am a capable communicator at all levels. I am comfortable managing relationships with both internal and external stakeholders, colleagues and clients. I am available for interview at any time..."

So that sounds promising then.

Josl

johnburman said:

Josl  you say Total lack of responsibility shown by LC which may or may not be true, but the point is legally they have discharged their duty.  They have sold their book of clients to a FCA regulated entity in a transaction approved by the Court and one not objected to by the FCA.  Now it is clear to all, well me at least look at my posts from June, that ITI were a small specialised brokerage that wanted FX and CFD clients trading on margin not poor XO clients.  They had 6 weeks to test the systems ( from June to 23 July) and then on 23 July we woudl all have access to out assets and ££.  that did not happen and does not happen to-day.  BUT even so with the fees charges, let alone the chequered histroy of ITI (not to mention the FCA fine and enforcement)  ITI were never likely to be home for a huge number of XO clients who would transfer out. WHY DID NOT ITI PLAN FOR THIS IN ITS RECRUITMENT OF STAFF?  In fact the systems they have are wholly inadequate and more and more wanted to transfer out.  My transfers went in in later July (I was one of the early ones) and no transfer has taken place.  For reasons that fail me the FCA seem to be doing nothing...but there must be a limit to their inaction.  I was told by ITI that they had recurited ony 5 staff in July to dela with 20k SVS clients and this has been increased by 7 (someone on this forum reported).  Srill wholly inadequate.
My point is this is not for LC, it is for the FCA to deal with ITI.  My fear is that the FCA are beign given "teething troubles" excuses by ITI when we all know differently.  The sole question to ask (of the FCA and ITI) is "WHEN WILL MY TRANSFER BE COMPLETED - I WANT A DATE."  We can deal with the mess after the transfers are completed.  Questions of valuation; Phoenix; dividends etc. are all secondary - we need the transfers to be completed before ITI is shut down, which must be looking likely even to the timid and (to investors) gultess FCA. 

Responsibility of the administrators is defined in the charter. Administrators are appointed by the court to run the affairs of the company and show reasonable care in making decisions and not make decisions that are detrimental to firms customers. ITI is a crooked company. LC knew about this infraction and still made the decision to appoint such firm. LC's responsibility was to vet the firm for suitability, not the FCA. If you look into administrative updates you'll find several references to finding a 'suitable' broker. It was also the responsibility of LC to ensure new broker is capable of providing services suitable for clients of SVS. As you mentioned ITI is derivatives only firm then why did LC insist on transferring standard shareholdings to them?
As for when the transfer will be completed. ITI account management has blatantly made it clear last Friday "I'm sorry but we can't give a time frame for when these transfers will complete. We don't know"