Have any SIPP/ISA Platforms Gone Bust - if so what happened

DavidT67

Mr_Benn said:

So , sorry, to ask  maybe the same question in another way.

I have say £50,000 in a SIIP with Hargreaves Lansdowne.

I also have £50,000 in a SIIP with Interactive Investor.

If I transfer all my H&L 50k into ii ,  making £100k in ii, is only the first £85k protected if ii goes bankrupt ?   (Im guess not , else if 'yes', then the logic is to keep the amounts spilt between 2 companies under 85k)

What are you seeking protection against from whom !? 

As explained in the thread you are the beneficial owner of the underlying assets you've invested in. 

In the vanishingly unlikely scenerio that a major stockbroker collapsed someone else would snap up their client book.

Your investments won't have vanished unless you bizarrely believe that HL or II have been running some massive undetected fraud for decades with compliance colluding with regulators and auditors at all levels.

These firms have Billions under administration from Millions of UK customers, no UK government would let them fail in such a way that customers were out of pocket.

Lots of people have millions in their accounts with HL and II and sleep soundly at night.

Mr_Benn

Thanks guys for the quick responses.  Im off to the dunces corner  :-)

leosayer

Using a large mainstream platform is likely to be the best for safety because, in the unlikely event that something did go wrong with a platform, there would be a huge amount of press and political pressure for the government to step in and sort things out quickly before people with savings lost confidence in other platforms and started a run.

We saw this in great detail during the credit crunch where the government guaranteed deposits above the £85k FSCS limit and also UK deposits with Icelandic banks that were outside FSCS.

FIREDreamer

A large platform did go bust a cpuple of years ago and there was a big thread here about it. Can’t remember the provider name but the assets (shares, ETF and OEICS) did migrate elsewhere. Can’t find the thread now but people were moaning that the new provider was expensive.

cloud_dog

FIREDreamer said:

A large platform did go bust a cpuple of years ago and there was a big thread here about it. Can’t remember the provider name but the assets (shares, ETF and OEICS) did migrate elsewhere. Can’t find the thread now but people were moaning that the new provider was expensive.

SVS Securities perhaps?  Or, there was a 'Beaufort' (something)?

Albermarle

cloud_dog said:

FIREDreamer said:

A large platform did go bust a cpuple of years ago and there was a big thread here about it. Can’t remember the provider name but the assets (shares, ETF and OEICS) did migrate elsewhere. Can’t find the thread now but people were moaning that the new provider was expensive.

SVS Securities perhaps?  Or, there was a 'Beaufort' (something)?

I think the problem with SVS, is that they were not mainstream and held a lot of unregulated  investments. 

The likes of HL, Fidelity, Vanguard etc do not allow you to hold unregulated investments AFAIK.

eskbanker

FIREDreamer said:

A large platform did go bust a cpuple of years ago and there was a big thread here about it. Can’t remember the provider name but the assets (shares, ETF and OEICS) did migrate elsewhere. Can’t find the thread now but people were moaning that the new provider was expensive.

SVS went under and the customers were migrated to ITI Capital - the long thread is:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6032496/svs-securities-shut-down

As above, Beaufort was another one:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5808277/beaufort-securities

FIREDreamer

cloud_dog said:

FIREDreamer said:

A large platform did go bust a cpuple of years ago and there was a big thread here about it. Can’t remember the provider name but the assets (shares, ETF and OEICS) did migrate elsewhere. Can’t find the thread now but people were moaning that the new provider was expensive.

SVS Securities perhaps?  Or, there was a 'Beaufort' (something)?

Yes, SVS, thanks for the reminder.

dunstonh

The key things with platforms is the amount of illiquid assets they hold. 

Platforms with illiquid assets are not desirable to be bought by others.   Platforms with liquid assets are very desirable and will be sold to a third party long before you get wind of any problems.    All the failures there have been have been in respect of having too much in illiquid assets.

This is why many mainstream platforms restrict the availability of unregulated or niche illiquid investments.