RaboDirect - Minor Investment Account - Where to now ?

BobbyBingo

I have four Investment Accounts for minors with Rabo. As we know, Rabo are closing the investment side of the business and wrote to all customers informing them of this, pre-Christmas I think. At that time, they said they'd write separately to people with Minor Investment Accounts. I got 4 letters from them on Friday outlining three options:-

1. Sell the funds
2. Transfer them to CF but in MY name
3. Transfer them to CF in the name of the Minor via a Trust

Help! I dont need these funds in my name, and if anything, I'd rather keep them in each of the Minors own names. But I've no idea what it all means. They say if I want to go the trust route then seek independent advice and that the formal deed of trust needs to be in place by 14/04/2017.

I don't intend touching the money until each of them is 18 or 21 but want a simple hassle free mechanism, that allows their capital to grow without too much oversight from me - I really want to forget about it and only get annual statements with phenomenal growth! Each of their respective funds are currently in profit.

Where should I turn to for advice ?

Cheers
B

Legion2008

Curious as to whether you have gotten any suggestions for this ?

I'm in the same boat as I'd prefer to keep the investments for both minors separate from mine.

BobbyBingo

No. I havent really got much further on this and unfortunately didnt get any steer on boards. First time it's ever let me down!

Based on threads that I have read here - I did get in touch with Degiro and here's what they said:-

Thank you for your request.
It is possible to open a minor investment account at DeGiro. Please note that this always requires the cooperation and consent of the legal guardian. The legal guardian will be registered as second account holder and will hold the account jointly with the minor.
If you wish to proceed with the request, please provide us with the following documents:
• a copy of ID or passport of the minor;
• a copy of ID or passport of the legal guardian;
• fully filled in and signed acceptance form (see attachment), with minor registered as “account holder 1” and guardian registered “legal guardian / account holder 2”.
Furthermore, the following requirements must be fulfilled in order to proceed with the opening of the account:
• the minor must have an own bank account to his/her name, or have a joint bank account with the legal guardian in which the minor is an account holder. Please be aware that this bank account will be used during the registration procedure;
• for identification purposes, a first deposit must be made both from both the minor’s and the guardian’s bank account or from a joint bank account with both the minor as the legal guardian as account holders;
Finally, we would like to attend you to the fact that in a minor account, account holders are not allowed to make use of following investment services provided by DeGiro: derivatives, debit money and debit securities. In minor account, only long positions can be held.
If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.


I havent had the time or opportunity to do anything further. I dont think my back is to the wall on it either though - as if I dont instruct Rabo on it by 14 April, my understanding is that they will sell and transfer the value back to the savings account on 24 April.

To be honest, as I dont have time to commit (or wherewithall) to managing this myself, I'm thinking of putting it all into prize bonds... But I think that this is my lazy way out ?

B