Stockbrokers for Investment Clubs Sep’25

KnightsofSlinfold

I am Treasurer of an investment club currently with ii. I am looking to transfer to GHC Capital Markets or Capital Financial Markets. My experience to date has been that GHC have provided more prompt answers to my enquiries. cfm do not answer my emails. I would welcome hearing of anyone else's experience.

findthetruth

Sky_Dragon said:

findthetruth said:

johncalvert said:

Thought we were there, but no.  Today's question: "Please provide details on the membership process including how new prospecting members become aware of the investment club and the specific criteria needed to be accepted as a member." We will keep trying.

I have finished my application but so many of my answers were nonsense and I’m not sure they will accept the uploaded documents. You appear to be close……

@johncalvert @findthetruth did either of you have to provide the full details of all members as Directors/Control person/Owners as part of the application with IBKR? I know this info will need to be provided at some point, but I wanted to check if you had been asked for this up front, or provided it later in later in the process, as it may take me a while to collect that and I wanted to be gathering other information in parallel.

We were asked for a Directors List, proof of registration, proof of ownership.
We couldn't provide the last two (although we had previously sent copies of our bank statement and ii statement). We sent the list of the 3 officers and some confirmation statements in a 'comfort letter' which had been requested by email. Just full names and their % holdings. Sent this document in answer to all 3 just to pass this section. Awaiting an answer.
So, at this point, they have everything we have to give them, apart from a proper UTR and the full names of all members.No requests yet for identity docs or utility bills.
Hope this helps.

Gunnista

We opened an account with CFM and to be honest the process was not too arduous. We held our Club AGM and updated our Constitution with the current membership. We have yet to do a trade with CFM (telephone and email only) and the transfer of stocks from Interactive Investor has yet to be completed.  We will miss the ability to trade online but felt that the dealing costs of IBKR (who do have an online platform) were prohibitive.

gt94sss2

PipneyJane said:

@MSE_Martin @MSE_James and @MSE_ForumTeam5 can you do something to raise the plight of Investment Club investors?  Many on this thread have been investing for decades via a club and now the last remaining broker (ii) is withdrawing from the market.  We have until the middle of the month to find a new broker.  HELP!!

You would probably be better off contacting the likes of Money Box on BBC Radio 4 to raise awareness of this issue.

cpicker

I sent an email to Money Box soon after receiving the notice from Interactive Investor suggesting that they take up the issue but have had no response so I'm afraid we are unlikely to get any joy there.

Futuristic

It seems like a very small market and with tightening on AML/KYC sounds like a headache for any broker to support.

Also to note IBKR support themselves last time I checked are based in the US and half the time you get US relevant answers (as I did but that was a while back)

Oldhead45

Gunnista said:

We opened an account with CFM and to be honest the process was not too arduous. We held our Club AGM and updated our Constitution with the current membership. We have yet to do a trade with CFM (telephone and email only) and the transfer of stocks from Interactive Investor has yet to be completed.  We will miss the ability to trade online but felt that the dealing costs of IBKR (who do have an online platform) were prohibitive.

Yes just completed the online form with CFM for our members and it was quite straightforward. I look forward to the next step.

Sky_Dragon

Gunnista said:

We opened an account with CFM and to be honest the process was not too arduous. We held our Club AGM and updated our Constitution with the current membership. We have yet to do a trade with CFM (telephone and email only) and the transfer of stocks from Interactive Investor has yet to be completed.  We will miss the ability to trade online but felt that the dealing costs of IBKR (who do have an online platform) were prohibitive.

Hi @Gunnista . Do CFM provide a portal to see holdings and current values?

Gunnista

Sky_Dragon said:

Gunnista said:

We opened an account with CFM and to be honest the process was not too arduous. We held our Club AGM and updated our Constitution with the current membership. We have yet to do a trade with CFM (telephone and email only) and the transfer of stocks from Interactive Investor has yet to be completed.  We will miss the ability to trade online but felt that the dealing costs of IBKR (who do have an online platform) were prohibitive.

Hi @Gunnista . Do CFM provide a portal to see holdings and current values?

Yes, CFM have a portal and unique access can be given for each member to view this.  Only approved members can trade however.

LIC2000

KnightsofSlinfold said:

I am Treasurer of an investment club currently with ii. I am looking to transfer to GHC Capital Markets or Capital Financial Markets. My experience to date has been that GHC have provided more prompt answers to my enquiries. cfm do not answer my emails. I would welcome hearing of anyone else's experience.

We have had the same experience with both GHC (very helpful) and CFM (non-communicative).

We have our next meeting on Monday when the committee will be proposing that we go with GHC.