Help/Advice required re Sharewatch transfer to IG Trading /Horizon

HarvestMoon

Hi guys need some advice, a friend who had a decent chunk of money invested in shares via sharewatch was approached this week to transfer his holding to Ig trading Ltd.

He did get a letter prior to that from then saying he would be contacted to do this.

All fine and he met a rep this week, the issue is that he signed a number of forms including a Poa, naivety I would say. He did take copy of paperwork and having reviewed it looks legitimate, I have some limited experience in this area.

Main concern is he was advised by the rep to sign some forms but on an incomplete basis, the rep would complete then after. After this he checked his account and his shares are no longer showing, he has some dividends and they are still there.

Anyone any similar experience here? Have rep s details, other firm mentioned for dealing was horizon stockbroker. Does this sound legit to users on here?

Any advice welcome.

Bizness

HarvestMoon wrote: »

Hi guys need some advice, a friend who had a decent chunk of money invested in shares via sharewatch was approached this week to transfer his holding to Ig trading Ltd.

He did get a letter prior to that from then saying he would be contacted to do this.

All fine and he met a rep this week, the issue is that he signed a number of forms including a Poa, naivety I would say. He did take copy of paperwork and having reviewed it looks legitimate, I have some limited experience in this area.

Main concern is he was advised by the rep to sign some forms but on an incomplete basis, the rep would complete then after. After this he checked his account and his shares are no longer showing, he has some dividends and they are still there.

Anyone any similar experience here? Have rep s details, other firm mentioned for dealing was horizon stockbroker. Does this sound legit to users on here?

Any advice welcome.

Is it IG Index/Group versus IG Trading? IG group offer on-line stockbroking and are legit and regulated in the UK by the Financial Conduct Authority. Just make sure addresses, contact numbers, web-address, e-mail etc on any forms/letters are the same as per IG group.
There must be a reason for the transfer, did your friend initiate it originally or was given a reason for the transfer. Sharewatch is owned by Saxo now, so was there something about account inactivity fees, change in terms and conditions and your friend ticked option to transfer holding.
There is a stockbroker called Horizon in Newry and London, and it lists as its partners, Sharewatch, Saxo Capital Markets and IG amongst others.
Transfer should be ok imo if details on forms/letters check out, but find out the initial reason why it was done. Legitimate companies would not be cold-calling for business in general.

HarvestMoon

Hi thanks for above I think it was initiated by them due to his account being unused bar this one holding, did they (sharewatch) exit out of Ireland?

Anyway the form completed is under IG Markets limited?

Bizness

IG trade under IG markets so should be fine.
Sharewatch still operate in Ireland. He should check with IG about what charges, if any they have to hold the stock and any account inactivity fees. They have only started the stockbroking side in 2014 and are quite competitive from a commission point of view. To be honest however, if your friend only has one stockholding and he intends to hold on to the stock for a number of years or do minimal buying/selling, then if there are ongoing charges with the IG account, he may be better to transfer the holding into paper share cert form and just keep in a safe place until he decides to sell. That is if the holding he has is Ireland, UK listed, he may have no option but to hold electronically for Europe, US, RoW shares. Also you hold the paper cert so no-one can mess with your stock holding.