SVS Securities - shut down?

Malthusian

olderbutnowiser wrote: »

A J Bell make it very clear on their website that they will not open an account if you are resident overseas.

That contradicts my own experience. I would give them a ring rather than relying on stuff on the Internet. Do you still have a UK bank account?

olderbutnowiser

If that was directed to me, I am now resident in the UK having moved from overseas two years ago. I was just trying to clarify the situation for Danie5. I suspect that the overseas clients may be slowing down the transfer process for the rest of us and it will be interesting to see how LC resolve this.


Personally I am getting fed up with the delay but there is little we can do other than wait. The next update from LC will not be until "towards the end of February" so they are not exactly rushing.



As for getting moved to an expensive broker, I would accept anyone at this stage. If we don't like their terms, we can always move on.

johnburman

But olderbunowiser, if their terms include a heafty exit charge, then what do you do? You have no choice but to grit your teeth and pay

But a PS. LC have known about this since the outset, and so I hope that they have this pont covered

olderbutnowiser

I doubt LC would move us to anyone with a hefty exit charge. HL have recently removed theirs and may well be the final choice, at least for the UK resident clients.

manorhouse

Contacted by Yue Xiu Asset Managers.
A cold call, informed be of private placement in Airbnb which they say will IPO later this year .
Offer to get in cheaper before the IPO.
I suspect they got my name from SVS list.
As he referred to someone else waiting for funds from them.
Anyone else been contacted ?

Chaffers69

Sent an email to LC about whats happening and when I'm likely to be able to touch my funds and got this from them today ...
"We are currently working towards a target of initiating a bulk transfer of all SVS Securities PLC client accounts to the new nominated broker during April/May 2020.

The next stage is for the Joint Special Administrators to have their distribution plan (the detailed legal document outlining how all clients assets and monies will be transferred to the nominated broker) approved by both the Creditor’s Committee and the High Court. Once approved by both, we will be able to get underway with the client transfer process.

The nominated broker is currently going through a 1 month period of exclusivity to carry out their due diligence of the SVS client asset base. We hope to be able to inform clients of the name of the nominated broker once contracts have been signed."

johnburman

Chaffers69 is a useful update - Thanks

BUT I see LC say:

The nominated broker is currently going through a 1 month period of exclusivity to carry out their due diligence of the SVS client asset base. We hope to be able to inform clients of the name of the nominated broker once contracts have been signed."

All this should have happened well before Xmas and conditional contracts entered into. LC are, once again, dragging their feet. We need a speepstake on whether the chosen broker will pull out and then LC will have to go through the selection and diligence process again...delaying the process yet further (and of course increasing their costs).

Danie5

Why can't they just return each client's assets? And if the shares are too difficult to return, sell the lot and transfer the cash to everybody's bank account? I think everyone of us actually wants to pick his own broker in any case. So give us the opportunity to arrange a transfer of assets to the brokers of our choice.
But I suspect LC wants to trade the SVS client base to their own benefit and we can expect to see a deal where we are going to be restricted in the transfer of shares and cash.

pafpcg

Chaffers69 wrote: »

Sent an email to LC about whats happening and when I'm likely to be able to touch my funds and got this from them today ...
"We are currently working towards a target of initiating a bulk transfer of all SVS Securities PLC client accounts to the new nominated broker during April/May 2020."

Thanks for sharing the reply from LC to your email.

As we feared, the assets held in the SVS accounts will not be released in this financial year. For me, that causes problems as I was using our SVS account primarily to sell a share holding in Scottish Mortgage in batches over a four year period to stay within the annual CGT allowance. Since the 2019/20 tranche is still locked away in SVS, I'll have to rejig the programme of sales to use all of this year's allowance by opening a new broker account (at JarvisXO) and transferring-in another holding originally scheduled for sale in 2021/22. Drat!

masonic

Danie5 wrote: »

Why can't they just return each client's assets? And if the shares are too difficult to return, sell the lot and transfer the cash to everybody's bank account? I think everyone of us actually wants to pick his own broker in any case. So give us the opportunity to arrange a transfer of assets to the brokers of our choice.
But I suspect LC wants to trade the SVS client base to their own benefit and we can expect to see a deal where we are going to be restricted in the transfer of shares and cash.

It will be in most investors best interests not to have their investments sold. For those investing through S&S ISAs, shares could not be withdrawn as stock, so liquidating the portfolio and providing an ISA reinstatement certificate would be the only option. For those using a general investment account, there will be extra costs involved in withdrawing each investors holdings to stock certificates and it could take quite a long time. The FSCS may well object to this and has a representative on the creditors committee who could push back.