Financial Conduct
Beaufort Securities and Beaufort Asset Clearing
RNS Number : 4726G
Financial Conduct Authority
02 March 2018

Beaufort Securities Limited (BSL) and Beaufort Asset Clearing Services Limited (BACSL) are placed into insolvency

Following an urgent application by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the High Court has appointed Messrs Russell Downs, Douglas Nigel Rackham and Dan Yoram Schwarzmann of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) as joint administrators of BSL and joint special administrators of BACSL.

The FCA took this action following an assessment of the financial positions of BSL and BACSL (the Firms) which led the FCA to believe that both Firms are insolvent. The FCA also considers it necessary for insolvency practitioners to take over the running of the Firms in order to protect assets from dissipation and protect the customers of both Firms.

The FCA has also imposed requirements on the Firms, with immediate effect, using its own-initiative powers under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (the Act), requiring the Firms to cease all regulatory activity and not to dispose of any firm or client assets without the FCA's consent.

The joint administrators / joint special administrators will contact all affected customers of the firms in due course. If customers of the Firms require more information about how they will be affected, they should contact PwC (contact details will be made available by PwC through the day).

Yep. Roll on September.
I wonder which replacement broker we’ll end up with. Any guesses?
Whoever it is, i hope they’re in the brace position. They’ll have a very busy first few days with several months’ worth of pent up trades (mostly sells, i imadine), and probably folks closing their accounts early doors.

September date is a joke.

It might be a joke them holding onto everyone securities until September but at least it is a date that will allow choices to be made and look at lost oppotunities and things that might have been or a profit from fortune and lady luck.

I assume you have all received the lastest update from PwC that was dated 10 July 2018 but email today.

All set out clearly but we are yet to know which broker will receive our assets.

Although a date of 10 September has been mooted as the start of these assets being returned, I wonder when we will once again be able to be certain when they are with the new broker amd how quickly we will be able to trade them?

What a mess the FCA have made of it all but at least the FSCS is picking up the cost of fees, thanks to Sharesoc

.... and how long will it take to go though all the "know your customer" etc etc etc before you could actually trade on the new acccount?

Not to mention having to arrange a hasty transfer out if the selected broker is not to your liking.......

Would be far better if PWC were willing to arrange - upon request - a transfer to an individual's already held broker account.

Agreed, 55011. Most of will have another broker even if we didn't before 1 March, so it would be good if they could just go straight there rather than go through all the BS with a new company only to (probably) move it on shortly after.

I think though, I would want to keep the ex-Beaufort holdings and cash ringfenced (where have I heard that word before?) in a separate account, even if it is with my existing other broker, until I have reconciled all the dividends, my original cash, FSCS compo, etc.

Presumably we will NOT have Beaufort's usual £1 fee deducted from dividends paid since their demise.

Trust you have all seen the latest email fron PwC Re; Distribution Pln dated 25.07.18

The Addendum sheets all 1808 of them could take a bit of time to check.

Indeed! It shouldn't be rocket science to send out a personalised extract to each client surely?

Nominated broker
The Administrators are pleased to announce that they have chosen the principal broker, The
Share Centre Limited (“TSC”) for the transfer of client money and assets. TSC is authorised
and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) under reference 146768. Further
information about TSC and the transfer of client assets is available on the following websites:
https://www.share.com/ and www.share.com/beaufortsecurities/.

Anyone use them now?

I considered them in the past and decided against. Looking at their current charges, I see no reason to change that view.

I wonder if AJ Bell was ever in the frame?

The last date was 10 september now its the end of September - what a joke after all this time

I note on the share.com website questions answered there is a note about not joining them: If you join them you are stuck with their charges

https://www.share.com/help-support/beaufort-securities
"
Don't want to join us?

If you wish to transfer to a broker of your choice or liquidate your client assets, please contact the client service desk at Beaufort who will be able to discuss the options with you."

The last date was 10 september now its the end of September - what a joke after all this time

I note on the share.com website questions answered there is a note about not joining them: If you join them you are stuck with their charges

https://www.share.com/help-support/beaufort-securities
"
Don't want to join us?

If you wish to transfer to a broker of your choice or liquidate your client assets, please contact the client service desk at Beaufort who will be able to discuss the options with you."

If you choose not to transfer to the sharecentre - there is no date available, it could be three months or even six months that your in limbo BUT the good news is that if you allow your stocks/cash to be transfered to them, there is a period of three months that you can transfer out from them to your broker of choice without being charged.

Clocktower,

Where did you see that, please?

.

55011 - If you contact the Client Services Team on 0800 063 9283 they will confirm it I believe, and if so, please post confirmation on this page.

"
.... BUT the good news is that if you allow your stocks/cash to be transfered to them, there is a period of three months that you can transfer out from them to your broker of choice without being charged. ......"

I have seen no mention of this in the PWC documentation, or on the Share Centre pages, or in the Share Centre "ex Beaufort welcome " letter.

55011 - I did not either but having contacted the Team, and discussed the options etc. as I had read on the sharecentre website seeing that you could contact the Team and opt out, so having been informed that one would be disavantage further, I expressed there was little choice but to accept the Sharecentre charges to transfer out of them to by broker of choice, I was advised that I would have the option of doing this for FREE for the first three months, once the shres were with Sharecentre.

Please contact them, and get this confirmed, and post the response please, so as to confirm this to others.

I am not surprised sharecentre have not put this up on their website, as they will not want new clients doing a runner, and missing the chance of extra fees.

Clocktower,

Fair enough. Thanks for the enlightenment.

It was in fact posted by PWC, back in the very early days of this whole sorry affair, that Beaufort clients could opt for their own choice of broker, but that there would likely be a greater delay in the transfer compared with taking the PWC preferred option. I note that they haven't referred to that since.

I did see the para you mention on the Share Centre "welcome" page, but did wonder if it had been put there with PWC's knowledge and approval, since today's PWC notifications made no such mention.

Hopefully they will clarify in the next few days. It will be a busy time for all concerned whichever way it goes, and I fear that will lead to further delay and dissatisfaction.

On balance I would rather go direct to one of my existing brokers in one step - much simpler, I would have thought, and surely less scope for errors to creep in.