Fidelity attacked for not allowing in-specie windfall Isa transfers
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Advisers and investors have slammed Fidelity for not allowing in-specie transfers out of its windfall Isa account to other managers.
Last week, Money Marketing revealed that Fidelity was to close the accounts on October 1 after the number dropped from 200,000 to 34,000.
Investors can switch into any fund on Fidelity FundsNetwork or transfer out in cash to another Isa plan manager but they cannot transfer their shares. People who do not make a decision will have all their shares encashed and invested in the Fidelity moneybuilder index fund.
Financial Escape Limited director Phil Castle says: “It makes a bit of a joke of the regulator’s platform discussion paper and the issue of re-registration when Fidelity are not offering the option of re-reg of shares to a different platform.”
One investor says he would like to keep his shares in Aviva, given rumours of a sale. He says: “I have just called Fidelity and they are completely intransigent - they are not offering any of their clients the option to retain the windfall shares and do not intend to do so.”
A spokeswoman for Fidelity says: “We have tried to give windfall customers a range of appealing options that enable them still to gain exposure from financials. Unfortunately, we were not able to offer in-specie transfer for the windfall Isas as the service is not a full stock-trading facility.”
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Readers' comments (5)
Nick Edwards | 26 Aug 2010 9:05 am
The response from Fidelity's spokeman is feeble. If they are going through the admin processes to transfer these ISAs why can't they also complete a stock transfer form. The "appealing options" appear designed to push money into either Fidelity funds or onto its FundsNetwork platform. Is this Treating Customers Fairly?
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Anonymous | 26 Aug 2010 7:31 pm
Nick, I think you need to read the TCF directives !!!
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Julie O'Sullivan | 26 Aug 2010 11:43 pm
I am very unhappy about this situation. I have a copy of a share certificate with my name on, how dare they instruct me that I must sell my investment. I have suffered the drop in value of the AVIVA shares, but it is my decision to retain the sahres until I consider they have hit a value at which I want to sell. I am disgusted at Fidelity who are not offering adequate options at all, I want the sahres I bought that belong to me.
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Anonymous | 27 Aug 2010 1:28 pm
Julie, grow up and stop throwing your spoilt little toys out of the pram! If you read your terms you will realise that the shares are no longer owned by you but that we signed them over to Fidelity when we 'greedily' chose to put them into the tax free PEP (now ISA). I am happy with what fidelity are doing so ... jog-on ...
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Barnsley Dave | 5 Apr 2011 12:47 pm
I've seen a number of comments on this decision. Has anyone else remembered that Fidelity promised the Windfall PEP as a "free for life" product in their original 1997 product literature?
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