Moving portfolios between platforms

tigerspill

I am in the process of rationalising my portfolio (funds and platforms).  There are manly ISAs, but a small amount in a GIA on one platform.
I am trying to understand what happens when I transfer between platforms - in particular, when I transfer an ISA.
What happens when -
1. The same fund is available on the new platform?  Are they sold and cash transferred?
2. The fund is not available on the new platform - I assume they are sold on the old platform and cash transferred?
3. The fund is currently not tradable? I have a couple of property feeder funds where trading was stopped some months ago.  Will they just stay on the existing platform when I transfer?
4. I have a Woodford/Link Income fund showing on my CSD ISA - what will happen to this - does it just stay there when I move the ISA?
5. Where the existing funds are not available on the new platform, am I better selling first before transferring (ISA)?
The platforms I am considering moving to are iWeb, II & Vanguard.
Thanks

tigerspill

Anyone able to help?  Thanks.

cattie

You can do an 'in specie' transfer, where the new provider arranges for the transfer, meaning those funds that are available on the new platform will not be out of the market. If the fund isn't available on new platform then yes it'll be sold & the cash transferred.

I can't  answer query 3 or 4 but if funds are not available on new platform & you don't currently need to pay for selling, then it will benefit you to sell prior to the transfer, especially with iweb, as you'd be charged £5 for each sell or buy you do with them & II also will charge you I believe. You do realise that Vanguard only do their own funds, so you'll be restricted & not able to transfer or buy any funds that are not their own?

I moved my portfolio to iweb about 18months ago & very happy with things to date I have to say & it's saved me money compared to what I was having to pay my IFA & platform fee.

badger09

tigerspill said:

I am in the process of rationalising my portfolio (funds and platforms).  There are manly ISAs, but a small amount in a GIA on one platform.
I am trying to understand what happens when I transfer between platforms - in particular, when I transfer an ISA.
What happens when -
1. The same fund is available on the new platform?  Are they sold and cash transferred?
2. The fund is not available on the new platform - I assume they are sold on the old platform and cash transferred?
3. The fund is currently not tradable? I have a couple of property feeder funds where trading was stopped some months ago.  Will they just stay on the existing platform when I transfer?
4. I have a Woodford/Link Income fund showing on my CSD ISA - what will happen to this - does it just stay there when I move the ISA?
5. Where the existing funds are not available on the new platform, am I better selling first before transferring (ISA)?
The platforms I am considering moving to are iWeb, II & Vanguard.
Thanks

Can't answer all of the above, but in the absence of anyone else, here goes...
1) Up to you. Transferring in cash is almost always quicker than in specie, but you might incur trading charges with both providers, depending on their charging model
2) You sell with existing provider, then transfer as cash
3) & 4) Sorry - I don't know
5) If existing funds are not available on new platform, you have no choice to sell before transferring your S&S ISA

Couple of points:
i)  the new provider always initiates the transfer, so you need to open S&S ISA with new provider first, then complete their ISA transfer form. Some can be done online
ii) not all S&S ISA providers allow partial transfers so you need to check first
iii) all current year S&S ISA subscriptions must be kept together. (previous years' subscriptions can be split but see ii) above

Albermarle

The only points I would add are that there are some horror stories of in specie transfers taking months . The problem is not usually the platforms but the fund/investment itself being slow to do their bit .
I have transferred three pensions in cash . One took less than 48 hours and the other two took about 10 days but I was only out of the market for a few days at most .
I also transferred an S&S ISA - I asked for in specie if possible, and some funds came over and then the rest as cash . I did not do anything or sell any funds , it was all done for me. That took about 10 days as the funds had to be changed to a clean class.
I did not incur any charges in any of the above transactions but I guess that depends on the providers. In fact I gained £1000 in cashback !
I think for Point 3 ) you will find these maybe have to be left behind until they reopen ( I think most property funds have reopened by now ?) 

hoofy

tigerspill said:

2. The fund is not available on the new platform - I assume they are sold on the old platform and cash transferred?

From the IWeb transfer info.

"I/we authorise the transfer of all investments to IWeb Share Dealing. In the event that any of my investments cannot be transferred as stock, I authorise IWeb Share Dealing to instruct my current broker to retain these holdings and proceed with a partial transfer."

tigerspill

Thanks all.  Very useful info!