There is a very good article in this week’s Investors Chronicle by Mary McDougall on the subject of platform transfers. I have sent her the following email:
Mary,
On the subject of platform transfers, you are quite right to say that “It appears progress has been pitiful”. I have done several such transfers in the past and none has been completed in under 3 months. The FCA initiatives to improve matters has had minimal impact. I am currently still trying to get one completed that I initiated on the 12th of January.
This is a transfer of a SIPP from one platform to another where I already held a SIPP. This was an “in-specie” transfer but it only contained holdings of cash and UK listed Crest shares. No funds or other problematic assets. In other words it should have been absolutely straightforward. But it still required paper forms to be completed and signed. They suggested it would take 12 weeks but I think it will take longer.
The latest hold up is that as I passed the age of 75 in the middle of this transaction the sending platform requires completion of a Lifetime Allowance Test which is also being done by the receiving platform. I am querying why they both need to do it and why that should be holding up completion.
What is really annoying is that both platforms seem to be understaffed to handle transfers, and seem to expect me to do all the chasing required to get the transfers completed. As I have pointed out to them, the FCA Handbook says the brokers “must execute the client’s request within a reasonable time and in an efficient manner”. They are clearly in breach of that rule.
In the meantime, my cash and holdings have been frozen, prejudicing my investment activities.
It is simply unacceptable for transfers to take months. It’s anti-competitive as it deters people from moving to platforms with lower costs or a better service. The FCA cannot fix this problem by exhortation. It needs to look at the wider issue of poor systems and under resourcing of transfers. And it needs to get a lot tougher with the platform industry.
Note that I have not named the two brokers concerned in my latest transfer as I don’t think they are likely to be any worse than others from my past experience. It is an industry wide problem, and needs tackling more vigorously.
Roger Lawson (Twitter: https://twitter.com/RogerWLawson )
You can “follow” this blog by clicking on the bottom right in most browsers or by using the Contact page to send us a message requesting. You will then receive an email alerting you to new posts as they are added.
© Copyright. Disclaimer: Read the About page before relying on any information in this post.
HI Roger. I feel your pain. I shall be putting it to the test this week when I take the last of my non-self-manged SIPP away from an investment manager and add it to my own holdings in my broker account. I am very unimpressed with their performance over the last two years and am fed up of paying their fees. I had previously viewed it as a separate holding that is invested in other areas than my own SIPP and therefore viewed it as diversification, but to be honest I think I can do better and for less.
I hope your transfer gets sorted soon.
Best wishes
K