In specie transfer out

General
126

A little bird tells me there’s some good news on the way very soon :raising_hands:

2 Likes
129

Hi everyone,

Sorry it’s taken so long for us to get to this. By way of intro, I’m the new(ish) Head of Product - Pensions.

To answer the original question: yes InvestEngine support in-specie transfer out for ISA and SIPP wrappers, with a few conditions that the wider industry generally deal with.

For GIA wrappers, we generally only undertake in-specie transfers when an account has grown enough to generate tax implications.

You can be assured that any investment you make with InvestEngine can be securely transferred out at anytime in line with industry standards.

In more detail… The conditions on in-specie transfer out are that InvestEngine can complete these: a) for whole integer ETFs; b) where the new provider will accept the specific ETF; and c) when a complete wrapper account (ISA or SIPP) is requested to be transferred.

For partial wrapper account transfers, those ETFs the new provider won’t accept and any fractional ETFs, these must be sold down and transferred as cash.

Building automation to help us deliver partial wrapper account transfers is on our roadmap. But this is a feature very few other providers offer it in the UK, and we are balancing trade-offs between a number of customer-centric improvements across the business. So while I’d love to say it will be done by a certain date, we haven’t made these prioritisation decisions yet.

The reason we held off replying in the thread confirming we do allow for in-specie transfers out, is that, like every investment and pension platform in the run up to tax year end, our operations team was (and continues to be) working overtime to deliver on the surge in requests.

Our highest priority will always be making sure we action these requests correctly each and every time.

I hope this is all clear and I’m more than keen to continue this or any other discussion. Engaged investors are the backbone of InvestEngine’s success, so if anyone has any further thoughts or questions, please reach out.

7 Likes
130

Hi Bob,

Could I clarify something - If i hold 10.5 shares of a fractional ETF and want to transfer to a platform that supports both the same ETF and fractional shares. Is it possible to transfer the 10 shares with In specie transfer out and have the .5 shares liquidated to cash and then transferred?

I cannot see a way to sell by share quantity on IE, only by cash amount.

Any guidance would be appreicated.

Thanks

131

Hi pstrain561,

To help me answer, would this transfer be from an ISA, SIPP or GIA account?

(Apologies for the delayed reply, I was taking some leave last week for a family holiday.)

132

Hi Bob,

Thanks for your response :slight_smile:

I am referring to a stocks and shares ISA in this case.

Paul

133

Thanks, Paul.

In this case (and as long as this 10.5 ETF was the complete component of this particular ISA wrapper), rather than managing any sell down yourself, you would need to request the transfer with the new provider.

This new provider would contact InvestEngine and we would work with them to agree to pricing and timing of a transfer as well as amount to be sold down as cash. We would then initiate this sell down and you will receive confirmation of receipt from the new provider.

You need to make sure that when you make this request with any new provider, you specifically request it as in-specie to ensure the process above is triggered.

I hope this helps and if you are heading off elsewhere, we’ll be sad to see you go but wish you the best in your investing future!

Does Anybody Know Bob Tronson?
134

Bob, what if your ISA wrapper contained multiple fractional ETF’s? Providing you were transferring the entire wrapper (and all ETF’s were supported by the new provider) would it be an issue to transfer all of them in-specie?

Thanks in advance

135

Hi Orson,

No issue. Each full ETF would be transferred in-specie and the remaining fractions would be sold down and transferred as cash to the new provider.

Again noting the other conditions outlined in my earlier post.

1 Like
136

Thanks Bob. Have you also started accepting in-specie transfer of Socks and Shares ISA to Trading 212?

140

Hi Khakhun (and wider community),

I need to apologise, my earlier responses need further context.

InvestEngine supports in-specie ISA transfers to all providers that accept this transfer type, including Trading 212. But currently, there is more to it.

Trading 212 are not a TeX member for ISA and do not have implementation with Origo or Equisoft to properly support automated ISA transfers.

Since April around 20% of in-specie transfer requests from InvestEngine to Trading 212 have taken more than 30 days and been cancelled outright by Trading 212. During the same period InvestEngine’s in-specie transfer requests to all other providers had a 98% success rate.

If you request an in-specie transfer to Trading 212, we will do everything we can to ensure your ISA is transferred within 30 days but we can’t guarantee it will be completed.

If you are comfortable requesting a cash transfer to Trading 212, we would expect it to be completed with 10 to 12 days.

Requesting a cash transfer does mean your investment will be out of the market for the time it takes to complete the transfer and may have potential tax implications.

I am not a financial or tax adviser and InvestEngine does not provide financial or tax advice. The intention of this post is to provide context to help inform your decision.

I will delete my previous response to reduce confusion around the issue.

1 Like
141

Thanks Bob for the comprehensive response. Just to clarify, so InvestEngine is fine to do full fractional share ISA transfer to Trading 212.