I’ve been an early adopter of InvestEngine, I’m a shareholder and I’ve referred multiple friends and family members to this platform because I believed in the product - so it pains me to write this post.
After exercising the option to cancel my Invest Engine SIPP during the cooling off period I currently have a £20,000 withdrawal in total limbo, and the communication from InvestEngine has been non-existent.
This is the 12th day of waiting for my funds to be returned to my nominated bank account.
InvestEngine has told me that because this is a SIPP the funds were sent to their administrator, Quai, on 2nd April. They are now claiming the money is "not under their control” which is not only extremely concerning but breaching regulatory compliance.
My Advice:
If you are withdrawing large sums, be aware that “Complete” on your dashboard does not mean the money is on its way to you. It just means InvestEngine has passed the buck to a third party.
I have now had to file a Formal Complaint and am escalating to the FCA and Financial Ombudsman. If you’re in a similar boat, don’t just wait—demand a transaction tracking number immediately.
Sorry to hear your going through this experience. This is very highly concerning. I had my own difficulties with investengine earlier this year where my account was inaccessible for weeks and support was extremely unhelpful asking me the same basic questions regarding resetting passwords which I had informed of me testing in my initial enquiries.
Between my experience and hearing of yours, its hard not to consider if this is more signal than noise. Considering the funds deployed with IE that have accumulated over the last few years, strongly assessing whether the fee structure is compensated by the counterparty risks that seem to be emerging.
Sounds like the escalation processes your using are very appropriate
Update: After 14 days the funds have finally arrived in my account following intervention from the Complaints Manager.
Whilst I’m glad this has been resolved, 14 days for a completed withdrawal is a serious systemic issue. I hope Invest Engine uses this case to fix the visibility between them and Quai.