How Concerned Should I Be??

davethebb

I am due to be redundant very soon and financially I should be OK (£900k in savings and a SIPP). However all my investments are with Interactive Investor (in various GIA, ISA's and my SIPP). What are the risks in having all my money within the II umbrella and should I be splitting it up, say with HL or similar?

Alexland

Unless there is fraud or serious error then the assets should be segregated so if the company fails then another manager could take them over but the process can be stressful (waiting for the assets to be reconciled and confirmed as safe) then take a long time to transfer so to keep some money accessible depending on the value of your cash savings elsewhere you might consider moving either the GIA or ISA to another manager eg iWeb etc if the account is large and the investments are supported on the new platform. The extra costs for platform diversity are tiny percentages with larger account valuations. Good luck with the redundancy and whatever you do next.

coyrls

I think a bigger risk than platform failure is that II make a change to their charges that disadvantages you.  If you decide to transfer your accounts to a new provider, there will be a period of disruption where you could have problems withdrawing money from your accounts, particularly if you decide to transfer in specie.  This happened to me in the past (not at II) and I have subsequently kept my ISA and SIPP on separate platforms to avoid it happening in the future.

Albermarle

As above , no need to be too concerned , but probably wise to have at least on alternative with such a large amount .
An IT meltdown is always a possibility , like with TSB , so you might lose access for a while.

lozzy1965

Personally I have a 50K emergency fund in premium bonds, as these are easily accessible and the best (on average) return for that amount of money at present.  Everything else is on one platform - to limit costs,

Notepad_Phil

Personally I'd always want to have a minimum of a couple of platforms just in case there's any IT issues that stop you from getting money out at a time that you need it. And if you're anywhere close to £900K in investments then I might start looking to three separate platforms if I could manage to do it without increasing my costs by too much.

Perhaps you could start by moving your S&S ISA across to a fixed cost platform like iweb?

davethebb

Thanks everyone for your responses. Although i do have an emergency fund the point about IT issue etc is a vey valid one so I will perhaps look to move some over to a different platform. Again, many thanks.

Steve182

I have a 6 figure sum in II and also in AJBell

It's all ringfenced in client's accounts when not directly invested in shares/funds etc so is not mixed up with the company's money.

Unless a major fraud occurred, such as the company moving client's ringfenced money to some other account there is no risk.

I  don't think there is much to worry about in large regulated UK platforms.

dunstonh

davethebb said:

Thanks everyone for your responses. Although i do have an emergency fund the point about IT issue etc is a vey valid one so I will perhaps look to move some over to a different platform. Again, many thanks.

What if you spread across three platforms and all three platforms are using the same software?   They would all suffer the same problems at the same time.

_pete_

dunstonh said:

davethebb said:

Thanks everyone for your responses. Although i do have an emergency fund the point about IT issue etc is a vey valid one so I will perhaps look to move some over to a different platform. Again, many thanks.

What if you spread across three platforms and all three platforms are using the same software?   They would all suffer the same problems at the same time.

I agree with this.  I naively spread my pot between IWeb and A J Bell to mitigate IT risk.  Turns out they have the same back office.

Eco_Miser

davethebb said:

I am due to be redundant very soon and financially I should be OK (£900k in savings and a SIPP). However all my investments are with Interactive Investor (in various GIA, ISA's and my SIPP). What are the risks in having all my money within the II umbrella and should I be splitting it up, say with HL or similar?

In the very unlikely event that the platform goes into administration, the administrators fees can be taken from the client accounts in proportion to their value. The FSCS covers this up to £85k per person (if eligible). With upwards of £800k there is a chance that the share of fees will exceed the FSCS cover.  It's a remote risk, but easily mitigated by splitting between providers.