More than 85k in S&S ISA

patch9495

Hi there,

General question around S&S ISAs and holding more than 85k in there

I have an S&S ISA with Fidelity and read that client funds are kept separate from Fidelity funds and are ring fenced in the event of liquidation of Fidelity

https://www.fidelity.co.uk/how-is-my-money-protected/#2806160

Therefore am I safe to leave more than 85k in there and have no risk of losing my money above the 85k FSCS protection limit?

Don't want to ideally have multiple S&S ISAs as well as benefiting from lower fees with Fidelity over a certain holding amount

Mark_d

You have more than £85k of cash sitting in an S&S ISA?  Do you earn any interest on that?

dunstonh

Therefore am I safe to leave more than 85k in there and have no risk of losing my money above the 85k FSCS protection limit?

You have multiple FSCS protections (or reduced) with platforms.

Each OEIC/UT has £85k per fund house
There is no FSCS protection on ETFs or ITs.
The platform itself has £85k 

A general rule of thumb is to avoid platforms with high levels of illiquid assets and are not making profit (so ok with Fidelity).   If you do that, then FSCS is largely irrelevant.      And if you stick to mainstream regulated investment funds, again, largely irrelevant.

jimjames

patch9495 said:

Therefore am I safe to leave more than 85k in there and have no risk of losing my money above the 85k FSCS protection limit?

Don't want to ideally have multiple S&S ISAs as well as benefiting from lower fees with Fidelity over a certain holding amount

If you're investing in different funds then there is a risk of losing money purely due to market movements. That's a  far greater risk than needing to think about the FSCS limit. Many people have S&S ISAs considerably above £85k, some even above £1million.

patch9495

Sure 

For context the question is regarding FSCS protection in the event of a platform going into liquidation,  not the risk of market movements

Would there be any risk in having 170k invested in one platform, or would I be best splitting this between 2 platforms to ensure no more than 85k per platform?

Thanks

dunstonh

Would there be any risk in having 170k invested in one platform, or would I be best splitting this between 2 platforms to ensure no more than 85k per platform?

It really comes down to the platform.    A platform with the majority in liquid assets is highly marketable and valuable.  It will easily be moved to another platform provider.      However, other platforms will not be interested in the smaller niche platforms with high levels of illiquid assets.    

patch9495

Hi,

Platform is Fidelity, funds are vanguard global equity and bond funds

mebu60

patch9495 said:

Sure 

For context the question is regarding FSCS protection in the event of a platform going into liquidation,  not the risk of market movements

Would there be any risk in having 170k invested in one platform, or would I be best splitting this between 2 platforms to ensure no more than 85k per platform?

Thanks

You won't be able to do that with Fidelity, they do not allow partial withdrawals. You'd have to transfer it all out to a provider that allowed partial withdrawals then split the funds. And you'd need to place significantly less than £85k in each one to allow for growth if you go that route. 

I have >£220k in a Fidelity S&S ISA. From initial deposits aiming to keep below the then FSCS limit of £50k! The fact that it's in underlying investments is reassuring to me.

mebu60

Mark_d said:

You have more than £85k of cash sitting in an S&S ISA?  Do you earn any interest on that?

Hopefully it's mainly invested but any cash in the ISA or the cash management account currently receives 3.51% AER. 

patch9495

Thanks all 

When I say 85k I mean 85k portfolio value not cash

patch9495

I have >£220k in a Fidelity S&S ISA. From initial deposits aiming to keep below the then FSCS limit of £50k! The fact that it's in underlying investments is reassuring to me.

Would there be a risk here that if Fidelity got into trouble you'd lose the 135k?

Or is this mitigated by the fact Fidelity ring fence client funds, so they can be returned in the event of financial difficulty?