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Stockbrokers for Investment Clubs Sep’25

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Comments

  • bmcgo19
    bmcgo19 Posts: 2 Newbie
    First Post
    I posted this comment on a linked forum last week::
    I/we are in similar situation with our 25 year old club. Our account was transferred from Share Centre to ii on the takeover
    I have written to ii saying I hold my personal account(s) with them partly because of carry over from Club account.
    Have threatened to close my account(s) and also sell my Abrdn shares as if this is Abrdn policy  (they own ii) then I want nothing more do do with them!
    Doubt if this will have any effect but it made me feel better!
    As a thought if enough account holders threatened closure would they reconsider?
    It is one thing to stop opening new accounts but surely reactionary to close current ones
    One platform I approached blamed ALM & regulatory measures for not accepting new accounts.
    Surely something wrong with system in this country?

    UPDATE
    1. I have had  no reply from ii about my threat to transfer my personal account(s)-suspect it will take a large number of clients to threaten this before it has any effect
    2. We have liquidated our entire portfolio-surely any costs should be born by ii!
    3. We also have had a positive response from CFM (Capital Financial Markets)
    4. As suggested in other forum getting Martin Lewis involved would be ideal!
    5. Another good point was need for Investment Club association or similar
  • I am the Treasurer of a long standing Investment Club and am very happy to have found this forum. Some sort of association would be very helpful. We have been impacted by ii the same as everyone else. Looks like CFM are the favourite (only?) alternative at the moment. I noticed that their online form only has space for 10 members. Does anyone know if they have a limit on the number of members? iDealing had a 20 member limit before they pulled out.
    We will be contacting AJBell as suggested. 
  • I am another Treasurer of an Investment Club that has been going for 25 years, in the same boat as everyone else.

    @Gunnista , I was also hoping it might be possible to open an account with Interactive Brokers after spotting a reference to Investment Clubs buried away in their instructions about how to open a shared account. However, after emailing them I received this response:

    "We have been inundated with queries of this nature since ii.co.uk decided to stop offering investment clubs. We're sorry, our firm also does not accept investment clubs for account opening."

    Since you said that you had been speaking to their helpdesk directly, and appeared to receive some information that contradicted this, please keep us updated if you do manage to open an account with them, and how you did it. They certainly appear to be much cheaper than any of the other options that are currently being suggested.
  • MorGra
    MorGra Posts: 7 Forumite
    Photogenic First Post
    Hello
    I've also sent enquiries to A J Bell and Capital Financial Markets, and a polite request to ii to extend their deadline to 31 Dec 25.
    If we all do it, then, maybe, just maybe ...


  • They wanted to know the value of the club's investment dealing account, and the number of members.

    Agree.... if we all respond, their onboarding staff, they should have enough to make a case internally at AJ Bell. 

    As alerting the allegedly many affected clubs across the land could take time, your thought to ask II to extend their deadline to year end (or beyond?) makes great sense. 

  • phlebas192
    phlebas192 Posts: 93 Forumite
    Second Anniversary 10 Posts Name Dropper
    Addressing some of the points raised:
    1. There was an IC association. It was called ProShare and I guess that many clubs that started ~25 years ago purchased the ProShare manual and maybe even subscribed to ProShare for a while. But I also suspect that most clubs, like ours, stopped subscribing because they weren't offering much value having already set up the club. At one time they had a forum for ICs but it didn't attract much attention rather reflecting the interest. After a while DigitalLook (I think) bought them out and ProShare faded into non-existence. So, basically, we did once have an IC association but it no longer exists because of indifference. Given that there are far fewer clubs now than 20 years ago, I can't see any new association doing any better.
    2. ShareSoc is a (not very well known) organisation for individual shareholders. Whilst it's not really their remit they have at least attempted to take up the IC cause following ii's decision to close accounts, see https://www.sharesoc.org/forums/topic/investment-club-broker/. They had a meeting with AJ Bell today which doesn't seem too hopeful but perhaps helps to explain why ii are pulling out of the market. Unfortunately, the comments we've seen here regarding Interactive Broker shows that both the ShareSoc representative and AJ Bell aren't as well informed as we might wish. nb: that's no reflection on the ShareSoc rep who we can hardly expect to be fully informed on all brokers and their attitude to IC accounts - but it does make me feel less positive towards AJ Bell who should not have even mentioned IBKR unless they were a viable option.
    3. The idea that ii could be responsible for the costs of liquidating assets, seems, well, fanciful at best. I fully support those calling for ii to extend their deadline (maybe even continue to offer IC accounts to existing clubs as long as no new members are added), but they have at least offered an option to transfer a club's assets in specie to individual members that shouldn't have any immediate CGT implications. This isn't a trivial offer when it comes to administration costs- eg for our club it would involve over 200 transfers of assets (holdings * members) that likely will require to be done manually. They have also offered to waive monthly fees for a year and give £50 trading credits to each account transferred to.For most club members this is going to be the least costy option.
    4. CFM are essentially a "one man band" outfit with all of 4 employees reported in their latest accounts. They don't even offer online trading. I don't consider them a plausible option unless your club is very small and rarely trades.
    5. Pillings seems to be the only other broker accepting clubs. Their standard commission charges are not remotely acceptable to us (and I question just who they would be acceptable to...) so unless they are prepared to massively change their business model, I can't see our club transferring to them.


  • Quick update. We have contacted AJBell and given them the club info. Got the same response as everyone else so we will wait and see what they decide.
    One of the problems I suspect the brokers have is that the Club structures are rather opaque and they don't have clear sight of the individual members - at least not sufficient to satisfy the FCA. Has anyone heard of other structures that might be more acceptable? I'm thinking trusts or maybe a company of some sort. 
  • MorGra
    MorGra Posts: 7 Forumite
    Photogenic First Post
    greybags para 2 above is interesting.
    We have always been diligent in advising ii about membership changes, but I suspect that not all clubs are.
    They get found out when they try to update W8BENs, whence the broker discovers that the members are not what they have registered
    I did think about trusts/companies, but I suspect that the admin burden would be too much for most.
  • MorGra
    MorGra Posts: 7 Forumite
    Photogenic First Post
    Here is the ii reply to my request to extend their deadline to 31/12/25 - 

    Thank you for your Secure Message.

     After this date online access to the account would be disabled and Investment Clubs still containing assets by this date may be subject to a monthly £50 fee on top of any existing fees until the Investment Club is closed. You would still be able to transfer the account if you wish; it just may need to be processed over the phone.

    That would be a "No", then.

  • I too have contacted AJ Bell, and would encourage everyone else facing the same fate after II's decision to close share club accounts.
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