Stockbrokers for Investment Clubs Sep’25

Tanatclub

Gunnista said:

Well, some positive news for a change.  Our Clubs transfer to Capital Financial Markets (CFM) was completed today and I have already actioned a trade by email.  Their online portal was updated immediately with the trade information and each of our members have access to view it.  We typically set Stop Losses on our Shares which used to trigger automatically with Int Investor, but now it will require us to monitor the portfolio more closely and request a SELL when required.  But in summary the transfer has been 'Relatively' painless.

Yes, our transfer to CFM is at the moment "in flight" but hopefully it will be completed soon. Did you buy any chance deal in the US market too. 

Gunnista

Tanatclub said:

Gunnista said:

Well, some positive news for a change.  Our Clubs transfer to Capital Financial Markets (CFM) was completed today and I have already actioned a trade by email.  Their online portal was updated immediately with the trade information and each of our members have access to view it.  We typically set Stop Losses on our Shares which used to trigger automatically with Int Investor, but now it will require us to monitor the portfolio more closely and request a SELL when required.  But in summary the transfer has been 'Relatively' painless.

Yes, our transfer to CFM is at the moment "in flight" but hopefully it will be completed soon. Did you buy any chance deal in the US market too. 

No, we haven’t tried US stocks yet but I guess that not being able to obtain a W-8BEN tax form for the club may be a show-stopper.

Dorcots

@johncalvert Hopefully, we have avoided the LEI issue with IB; we have asked them to apply for it. Also I used my own UTR. Currently the only issue is "Proof of Principal Place of Business Address" since we meet in a pub and they won't accept my home address. What did your rejection letter say? 

Mintonite

We are looking at going with GHC as they are very responsive, although more expensive than some of the other options, such as CFM.  The GHC application form has a space for an LEI number - does anyone know if this is essential to sign up with GHC please - I note the previousdiscussions above regarding IB's requirment.

LIC2000

Mintonite said:

We are looking at going with GHC as they are very responsive, although more expensive than some of the other options, such as CFM.  The GHC application form has a space for an LEI number - does anyone know if this is essential to sign up with GHC please - I note the previousdiscussions above regarding IB's requirment.

An LEI is required. Our application initially didn't have one but they insisted. Acquired an LEI very quickly from LEI Register using constitution, last minutes and bank statement as proof of identity. Our GHC application approved very quickly after supplying them with the LEI.

WightWave

Hi Everyone,

My club have suggested going the route of using a single member to set up an account but the club trades through that account.  However, I was concerned regarding the capital gains implication. Would the individual be held responsible for all the capital gains even though the individual members would declare their own capital gains to HMRC. So I rang HMRC and after talking to two different people they confirmed the individual would be liable for all the capital gains.

So my question has anyone gone this route and had a different response from HMRC.

Dorcots

WightWave said:

...using a single member to set up an account but the club trades through that account....

I read somewhere that the name is best <IndividualsName> ITF <ClubsName>. ITF is "in trust for".

poseidon1

WightWave said:

Hi Everyone,

My club have suggested going the route of using a single member to set up an account but the club trades through that account.  However, I was concerned regarding the capital gains implication. Would the individual be held responsible for all the capital gains even though the individual members would declare their own capital gains to HMRC. So I rang HMRC and after talking to two different people they confirmed the individual would be liable for all the capital gains.

So my question has anyone gone this route and had a different response from HMRC.

This would undoubtedly be a bare trust arrangement. 

The member would  have to have ancillary documentation sitting behind the account indicating he holds the account in bare trust for all the named club members in specific proportions. The account designation would need to be crystal clear about that.

So in addition to the original club establishment document, and operating rules, you would be adding a bare trust document  the purpose of  which would be to try and access investment platform services through the 'back door'  ( ie setting up an investment club account without declaring its exsistence).

To be noted however, that bare trusts have to registered on HMRCs trust register, although no annual trust tax returns would be required.

RealTreasurer

We started in1987 and had an account with Redmayne Bentley stockbroker. Then you had share certificates etc. Today they still provide Investment Club accounts although obviously all shares are held in nominees. Costs are very similar to what they were originally. There is an annual fee of about £100, but trading is by telephone and costs are similar to other such services, which are high by online trading platforms standards. You can access your portfolio on line, but not trade. They have been going for many years and have a number of offices around the country so are a solid company. We moved to online accounts years ago for the simplicity and cost savings. Looking at our options now, I am concerned that some of the alternatives are very small organisations and some also have high costs. We have not yet been given a deadline by ii, so we are trying to look at all options and carefully research snags and costs. One option could be going back to our roots with Redmayne Bentley, but it is good to hear from others and their experiences.

johncalvert

@Dorcots, our rejection email from IBKR said "We require investment clubs to have a legal personality, a UTR and LEI. If your investment club doesn't have a legal personality, the application is going to be rejected."  This was closely followed by another email saying our application had been cancelled.
So, we failed on the Legal Personality, and not having a UTR for the club.