Wealth Management companies

RoxethRook · 18 May 2018 at 12:24PM

I am concerned that a large proportion of my investments is with a wealth management company. This company assure me that my money is actually with the various funds within ISA's and is safe should the worse happen to the wealth management company. I am not entirely convinced the assurance is reliable especially as money is paid directly to and our contract is with the wealth management company.

I would presume this situation affects many other people. Could you please comment (in general terms) on the safety of investments invested through wealth management companies. I don't want to become a victim!

eskbanker · 18 May 2018 at 1:18PM

You'll get more meaningful feedback if you name the company concerned - there are of course reputable wealth management companies and inevitably others less so, so generic comments about the industry are pretty meaningless....

tacpot12 · 18 May 2018 at 1:37PM

Generally, client money and assets held by regulated firms in the UK is very safe. The regulator allows client money/assets to be held in a very limited number of ways, all of which are designed to keep client money/assets separated from the company's money/assets. The regulator also requires a director or senior manager to be accountable for holding client money/assets correctly so as to maintain this segregation.

I would suggest you write to your Wealth Management company and ask them whether they are regulated by the FCA, whether they make a CASS return to the FCA and who in their company is responsible for submitting the CASS return to the FCA.

The following page may be useful: https://www.fca.org.uk/firms/client-money-assets

dunstonh · 18 May 2018 at 6:07PM

I am concerned that a large proportion of my investments is with a wealth management company.

What is a wealth management company? It tends to be used by firms that are not independent to make themselves sound grander than they are. i.e deflect away from the fact they are not independent. However, there is no official classification.

This company assure me that my money is actually with the various funds within ISA's and is safe should the worse happen to the wealth management company. I

It can depend on what this wealth company is. As I said above, its not real category. So, could be used from anyone like SJP (single tied), multi-tied or limited restriction. Some will use own company products. Some will use a range from the marketplace.

I am not entirely convinced the assurance is reliable especially as money is paid directly to and our contract is with the wealth management company.

Most intermediaries are not authorised to hold cash. Back in the bad days, the problems of fraud tended to be with those that did. So, its avoided by most nowadays and there is actually an FCA permission required to do so. Possibly sounds more like a single tied provider operation.

I would presume this situation affects many other people.

Not really. IFAs are the main distribution along with DIY. So, not an issue with either of those. That just leaves the smaller restricted/salesforce types.

Could you please comment (in general terms) on the safety of investments invested through wealth management companies. I don't want to become a victim!

You are going to need to give us more detail on who it is with as there isnt enough to go on.

Wealth Management companies

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