SVS Securities - shut down?

Michael_Reynolds

This morning I finally received an answer to my email to the LSE:

PRIVATE & CONFIDENTIAL

Dear Mr Reynolds

I refer to your email of 06/09/20 to Ms Diane Cote regarding the service received from ITI Capital Ltd, a member firm of the London Stock Exchange (“the Exchange”).  Your enquiry has been passed to me as the team responsible for considering such issues.

The Exchange is aware of the recent transfer of clients from defaulting member firm SVS Securities Plc to ITI Capital Ltd and is appreciative of the feedback regarding this process you have provided.  It is understood from your email that you have already lodged a complaint with the Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) which is the correct course of action in this instance as it is the FCA which has primary oversight of the broker/client relationship.  I would like to clarify that the Rules of the London Stock Exchange (the “Exchange” and the “Rules”) govern a member firm’s conduct when trading on the Exchange’s markets under the Rules.  The Rules do not contain conduct rules in relation to a member firm’s relationship or service provision to its clients.

The Exchange is required, however, to have default rules in the situation where one of its member firms is declared a defaulter.  The Exchange invoked these rules when SVS Securities plc (“SVS”) was declared a defaulter in respect of its failure to settle its off order book on Exchange trades and, as set out in the Rules, the Exchange has accordingly processed SVS’s unsettled trades for the underlying clients.  The transfer of client assets themselves is not within the scope of the Exchange’s default rules but falls under the special administration regime regulated by the Investment Bank Special Administration Regulations 2011, as amended, and the FCA’s Client Assets Sourcebook.

In your email of 06/09/20 it is alleged that ITI Capital Ltd is in breach of the Rules.  The Exchange takes any failure of a member firm to comply with the Rules very seriously but, as you may appreciate, we are unable to discuss any specific details of the work we may undertake in this regard.

Please note your concerns regarding the service provided by ITI Capital Ltd have been escalated to their compliance team.

Regards

Dagmar Banton

rnf11

My2penneth said:
I placed an order for £3k of Chesnara shares... I placed the order for xxx quantity shares and it wanted a limit price.  One submits the order and the system tries to fill the order. One can see the order being filled in chunks.  Sometimes the order filling pauses...so you might see 58/650 ( 58 shares bought out of 650 in the order). Associated with each chunk is a cost. I'm not sure if it is a " fill or kill" situation.  Waaay too complicated!

Ah!. So is that not a form of DMA? Your order being placed onto the order book and "drawn off" against as it were, if not all taken in one go?

As far as I can see, DMA for the retail client is rarely available in the UK. I believe only iDealing offer it - but at a price.

Emillion1

rnf11 said:

Jamesram said:

Answer I believe they are operating a "best price obtainable " system where your sale/ purchase instruction is logged (probably with other people's instrucions for the same stock) and the ITI trader tries to make the best price they can, concludes the trade, and then reports it to you. I have been really put off by this system which seems very uncertain and out of my control, and therefore I have not used it. I expect someone else can give a more echnical explanation as to what occurs.

That's staggering, if true. That is just providing a front for a live dealer somewhere. Wide open to abuse.

It's not at all  what 21st century online broker clients in the UK expect.

It's called an aggregated order.  It gives the broker cheaper execution costs

Jamesram

Michael Reynolds asked:  Have you managed to extract an email address for OLEG the geek Mongolian chairman of Da Vinci by any chance?

Answer

Michael. If you join Linkdin (simple,free can be more or less "annoynimouse") you can get a direct message link to him on his Oleg Jelesko page if you Search him- I did anyway. Usually you have to pay a Premium sub. to message people, but his page extended that facility for free, which is how I got to him.

TBH I since have developed a bit of a relationship with him and he has acknowledged things have gone badly and says he wants to put them right. (Wot me-susceptible to ex KGB mind-games? I don't blooming think so comrade)

How he can do this with Phoenix though, in light of what My2Penneth has said recently, I just don't know.

I won't copy any more of our exchange because a) there is really nothing more to it than what I have just said and b) since I do take the guy at his word that he is NOW  concerned (yes, yes I know!) it doesn't seem quite right to do so.

Still no shares showing on iWeb this am- must phone iWeb today

johnburman

Michael_Reynolds I received a similar email...but whilst they are technically right when they say "The Rules do not contain conduct rules in relation to a member firm’s relationship or service provision to its clients.".  (this they would like it to be!) but Rule 1020 provides:

A member firm must, to ensure compliance with these rules, at all times have:
1020.1	adequate trade execution, recording, reporting and settlement procedures and systems and, if relevant, order and quote management procedures and systems;
1020.2	sufficient staff with adequate knowledge, experience, training and competence;
1020.3	adequate internal procedures and controls; and
1020.4	one or more compliance officers who shall be identified to the Exchange and be competent to advise the member firm and its employees on the application of these rules.

Remind the LSE of the words in bold

tarski

I finally managed to get a withdrawal request processed after several emails and phone calls. I received a reply from Abiola Omotayo Customer Support Specialist | Abiola.Omotayo@iticapital.com. Could be worth trying to send your forms direct to him if you are struggling.
Hope that helps.

johnburman

Repeating a point I made earler...if the valuation has been sent by ITI to th enew broker, the new broker must agree it and then agreee a transfer date with ITI.   It is nothing to do with you the client.  Now it looks like valuations have been sent in bulk by ITI (whether right or wrong).  But the new brokers a) are dealing with a bulk transfer and b) are frightened that ITI's figures are wrong and are being super careful AND are thus delaying the transfer.  They are in one case I know of  'batching' the transfers.  THIS IS DELAYING MATTERS. 

So we all need to put/keep up the pressure on our new brokers to expedite the transfers. 

I was told to close the accounts prior to transfer which I did.  I can no longer trade.  But that means that the longer that ITI delay the transfer the longer I am locked out of trading (FOS to be told of this in due course!).  And yes it is odd tha tthe closure form requires bank details, but this is yet an example of ITI not knowing what they are doing/using wrong processes for the new XO clients. 

Emillion1

The UK works on an archaic electronic settlement methodology where shares held in CREST are held in either pooled or individual nominees.  SVS held stock in a pooled nominee.  By the time CREST forms have been circulated and delivered and stock transferred you could expect to wait 4 - 6 weeks.  My guess is there is either limited human resource at ITI and receiving brokers or there are client data migration problems and manual reconciliations are having to take place. If it is the latter, you are in for a long wait!

Jamesram

Having just said I am not going to post my further Oleg-based discussions, I will relate this because it corresponds with a concern that a lot of people have raised recently about the Closure Form

On 16/09/2020 18:08, ITI accountmanagement wrote to my Partner

"Dear Ms B

Thank you for contacting ITI Capital. [ Her last desperate email of many, requesting Transfer action was sent on 5 September]  I have changed the status of your account, so the next time you log in you will be prompted to complete a closure form. Please ensure that your account number held with the receiving broker is provided to prevent any delays in processing your request.

Please do not hesitate to contact us should you require anything further.

Kind regards, Natasha Account Management Specialist "

We wrote back, and also contacted my new mate Oleg:

"Hello Natasha

I do not understand what you are telling me. My account is an ISA account.

I do not want to close the account and transfer cash to my bank, which is what the online Closure form asks me to request- I simply would like my account transferred  to iWeb, which you should be aware of. You have the iWeb transfer form.You should not need any further information. However, yet again  I attach a copy of the IWeb transfer instruction signed by myself for your reference.

Please check your systems- the last communication I had from you was in a standard form email* acknowledging my transfer out  request. Regards Sharon B    * [ that was the standard  "circular" email in BLOCK CAPITALS that many people received]    

Hi again Oleg:   " Please look at the sort of communication we are receiving- this is to my partner Sharon this evening.  If she now logs onto the Client Portal she is told to Submit Closure Form.. She does not want a closure as such- she wants a Transfer. If she clicks on the"Submit closure" she reaches a page which asks her to confirm withdrawal "l want to convert and withdraw/transfer my cash balances in one Single currency bank account which she choses as GBP. THEN she is asked to enter all her bank account details.

  Oleg, this is an ISA. There is over £10K cash  in it. The last thing she wants is to have that money withdrawn from her ISA and sent to her bank. ITI should not need her bank details at all. There is reference to a possible"Transfer" but she has no confidence that this cash will not simply be sent to her bank, either by design or by error..Then she would have to try and sort that out with HMRC and iWeb to get it reinstated to her ISA.

Can you understand the stress and inconvenience this sort of thing is regularly causing?

 Should she complete the online form as requested?

Should she ignore it and hope that the Transfer out  will go through anyway?

Will she get a timely reply from Natasha  giving appropriate advice?

I picked up Natasha's email at 6.15pm  Its 7.30pm. Sharon has been at work all day. Now we have had to spend an hour trying to decide what to do and how to tackle this. It really is a problem. See the exchange of emails below  [above now] Best Regards James 

Oleg replies at 9.04 PM  (OK, slight Respect)

"James no issues.[?]    Let me have a quick look and we'll sort this out tonight [!!!]"

Nothing further heard yet. Will advise any developments on this Closure Form business if and when..................................

Emillion1

Jamesram said:

Having just said I am not going to post my further Oleg-based discussions, I will relate this because it corresponds with a concern that a lot of people have raised recently about the Closure Form

On 16/09/2020 18:08, ITI accountmanagement wrote to my Partner

"Dear Ms B

Thank you for contacting ITI Capital. [ Her last desperate email of many, requesting Transfer action was sent on 5 September]  I have changed the status of your account, so the next time you log in you will be prompted to complete a closure form. Please ensure that your account number held with the receiving broker is provided to prevent any delays in processing your request.

Please do not hesitate to contact us should you require anything further.

Kind regards, Natasha Account Management Specialist "

We wrote back, and also contacted my new mate Oleg:

"Hello Natasha

I do not understand what you are telling me. My account is an ISA account.

I do not want to close the account and transfer cash to my bank, which is what the online Closure form asks me to request- I simply would like my account transferred  to iWeb, which you should be aware of. You have the iWeb transfer form.You should not need any further information. However, yet again  I attach a copy of the IWeb transfer instruction signed by myself for your reference.

Please check your systems- the last communication I had from you was in a standard form email* acknowledging my transfer out  request. Regards Sharon B    * [ that was the standard  "circular" email in BLOCK CAPITALS that many people received]    

Hi again Oleg:   " Please look at the sort of communication we are receiving- this is to my partner Sharon this evening.  If she now logs onto the Client Portal she is told to Submit Closure Form.. She does not want a closure as such- she wants a Transfer. If she clicks on the"Submit closure" she reaches a page which asks her to confirm withdrawal "l want to convert and withdraw/transfer my cash balances in one Single currency bank account which she choses as GBP. THEN she is asked to enter all her bank account details.

  Oleg, this is an ISA. There is over £10K cash  in it. The last thing she wants is to have that money withdrawn from her ISA and sent to her bank. ITI should not need her bank details at all. There is reference to a possible"Transfer" but she has no confidence that this cash will not simply be sent to her bank, either by design or by error..Then she would have to try and sort that out with HMRC and iWeb to get it reinstated to her ISA.

Can you understand the stress and inconvenience this sort of thing is regularly causing?

 Should she complete the online form as requested?

Should she ignore it and hope that the Transfer out  will go through anyway?

Will she get a timely reply from Natasha  giving appropriate advice?

I picked up Natasha's email at 6.15pm  Its 7.30pm. Sharon has been at work all day. Now we have had to spend an hour trying to decide what to do and how to tackle this. It really is a problem. See the exchange of emails below  [above now] Best Regards James 

Oleg replies at 9.04 PM  (OK, slight Respect)

"James no issues.[?]    Let me have a quick look and we'll sort this out tonight [!!!]"

Nothing further heard yet. Will advise any developments on this Closure Form business if and when..................................

The joys of a margin based broker try to offer wealth management!  The two services are as different as oil and water.  It is all very well promoting the fact you have a Head of Wealth Management, unless you have the expertise to back it up such as in settlements etc... you are dead in the water.  FCA should have seen this coming