SVS Securities - shut down?

masonic · 22 August 2019 at 6:22PM

englishmas wrote: »

Would live to know if any body had any in site to the reason why SVS was taken to administration, some say it was their carbon traded and not paying the vat, other saying it was mishandling the clients assets.

any one there knows reason for certainty.

The FCA has given some heavy hints: https://www.fca.org.uk/publication/supervisory-notices/first-supervisory-svs-securities-plc-2019.pdf

- lack of financial resources (the "soft" default of their 5 year mini-bond)
- conflicts of interests
- possible misconduct of directors
- lack of governance
- promotion of unsuitable investments
- misreporting of assets in their custody

I think the VAT issue around carbon credit trading was a red herring, that had been going on for some time and was being challenged in court. But other than that, pretty much everything people have been saying seems to have played a role.

englishmas · 22 August 2019 at 6:42PM

Hi Masonic

Thanks for your very useful information, it is interesting to note that in my complaint to the FCA, I sighted , conflicts of interest, lack of supervision of their advisors and hard sell of unsuitable stocks. in hindsight it was stupid of me to invest with them. I was just trying to save platform fee. let's I will some my pension money back.

Alexland · 22 August 2019 at 9:08PM

englishmas wrote: »

I was just trying to save platform fee.

Yes this failure reminds us all to balance platform fee against overall business viability and operational conduct. If you have investments above the FSCS limit then the best approach is to stay with the more financially secure and reputable platforms even if it costs a little bit more.

johnburman · 22 August 2019 at 10:34PM

If you have investments above the FSCS limit then the best approach is to stay with the more financially secure and reputable platforms even if it costs a little bit more.

I do have and I agree. It was the simplicity and the transparency of SVS that originally attracted me as well as the fact that they were FCA registered as well as them being "Members of the London Stock Exchange." They had been in business for over 15 years too. Wonder if you can buy insurance against this sort of thing happening?

Ravima · 22 August 2019 at 11:07PM

Monsieur_Bourse wrote: »

Hello everybody. Obviously I am in the same boat as everybody else that has posted on this forum, due to our friends at SVS.

My question will only be directed at very few of the members that are present on this forum, so I hope that somebody will be able to help.

My wife and I both have an execution only account with SVS, we are both resident in France, not the UK. After reading various posts earlier in the thread, I understand that a lot of you have received generic letters from LC acknowledging that you hold accounts with SVS. To date neither myself or my wife have received a generic letter, so we are both getting a little concerned. I telephoned the helpline yesterday and a very unhelpful lady took my call. She started to lecture me that LC are unable to give advice on individual accounts, and personal letters will be sent out by 27th September, this I already knew from reading all the information available. I explained that I was not asking for a personal breakdown of my account, but could she confirm that I should have received a generic letter. She then confirmed that these letters are being sent out, and maybe give it a few more days. Fair enough, although the postal service between the UK and France does not usually take over a week. Maybe overseas clients are being treated differently to UK based clients.

Anyhow is there anybody out there that could tell me if they live outside the UK, if you have or have not received the generic letter yet. The information would be much appreciated.

If we have not received anything by next week I will take a stronger tone with whoever answers the telephone, as obviously LC must have generated a data base to send out the letters.

Living in Ireland and no letter or email ever received from LC.

Monsieur_Bourse · 23 August 2019 at 12:37PM

Thanks for posting that information Ravima, maybe non-UK residents have been put in a separate pile, who knows? Having looked at the FSCS website it states that the compensation scheme in not based on where you live, only if the company is registered with the FCA, which obviously SVS was.

Irrespective if we are covered by the FSCS scheme or not, we are now clients of LC, so it would be nice if at least they have the decency to write to all the people caught up in this shambles. No reply to an e-mail that I sent them, and helpline useless.

masonic · 23 August 2019 at 12:51PM

Monsieur_Bourse wrote: »

Irrespective if we are covered by the FSCS scheme or not

There isn't any question: you are covered by the scheme.

we are now clients of LC, so it would be nice if at least they have the decency to write to all the people caught up in this shambles. No reply to an e-mail that I sent them, and helpline useless.

You are not clients of LC. You are clients of SVS, LC is now an agent of SVS. But they should be corresponding with all clients of SVS, regardless of location, even if it is by email (I'm currently an investor with a company in administration and all of the correspondence I've received directly has been by email. I have also voted on resolutions by email).

manorhouse · 23 August 2019 at 1:10PM

I thought there was a question about non residents / non nationals being treated differently .
Has this been cleared up ?

If no fraud ( no one with information re , winifriths claims ? ).

Might turn out ok for clients who could move for free to a cheaper platform .
We now think its the company registered with FCA that matters ?

masonic · 23 August 2019 at 1:31PM

manorhouse wrote: »

I thought there was a question about non residents / non nationals being treated differently .
Has this been cleared up ?

There was a discussion around foreign (non-UK) compensation not paying out to UK residents. The FSCS has plenty of precedent for paying out on claims by non-UK residents within a large body of UK residents claiming FSCS compensation.

We now think its the company registered with FCA that matters ?

Not sure what you mean by that. FCA authorised does not mean FSCS protected. SVS XO investors and advisory clients will have FSCS protection though.

bnet · 23 August 2019 at 1:32PM

Hi
First of all, thank you for all the information posted in this post as I am living abroad and I am not a UK citizen and the only way I could be informed was through your messages.

My situation is like many of you:
-Brokerage account in SVSXO
-Latest statement downloaded was in May 2019, so I have some kind of evidence
-I was eligible for openning an account as in the past I studied and lived in the UK, therefore have UK bank account which was their main criteria to accept clients abroad
-Thanks god only part of my overall portfolio is in this one as I have always tried to diversify the risk, but still an important part for me.

Having said that, I am worried as I have NOT received any letter from the Special Administrator, nor any response to my emails.

I have just called them and they weren't very helpful and told me that there is a formal deadline of 27th Sep until which they will be sending letters, if by that date I have not received it then I should contact them... so until +1month I cannot get any kind of information... so what is the purpose of this hotline and emails addresses?

For those who are lliving abroad, have you received the letter? Am I the only one without a formal notification?

SVS Securities - shut down?

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