sharesies.nz

[justakiwi]

From Sharesies website:

”How we protect your money and investments
Our top priority is to keep your money and investments secure.

We keep detailed records of all money in your Wallet and investments in your account.We use Sharesies Nominee Limited to hold your money and investments on bare trust for you. Sharesies Nominee is separate from the daily business operations of Sharesies Limited. This means your money is held separately to the money Sharesies Limited uses to pay staff, and buy office stuff, like stationery and coffee.Sharesies Nominee will never use money or investments held for you for the benefit of itself, us, or any other person.We get audited each year to ensure we are meeting our legal obligations for our custody service.”

That’s what I thought with Halifax to. That the shares were held custodially for me.
Turns out somehow this is not correct.

[peat]

yeh I get that it is 'safe' , and I have an account with Sharesies with about 4% of my portfolio, mostly in funds
but as per RTM's experience
for me it is a very important factor to have control over your stuff (or at least the bulk of it).
Complications over ownership are where a lot of issues seem to occur.

From Sharesies website:

”How we protect your money and investments
Our top priority is to keep your money and investments secure.

We keep detailed records of all money in your Wallet and investments in your account.We use Sharesies Nominee Limited to hold your money and investments on bare trust for you. Sharesies Nominee is separate from the daily business operations of Sharesies Limited. This means your money is held separately to the money Sharesies Limited uses to pay staff, and buy office stuff, like stationery and coffee.Sharesies Nominee will never use money or investments held for you for the benefit of itself, us, or any other person.We get audited each year to ensure we are meeting our legal obligations for our custody service.”

[justakiwi]

Things are always improving with Sharesies. We now have contract notes for every purchase, which we didn’t have when I signed up. Down the track I hope these will be able to be printed off for anyone who likes to keep a “paper trail” of investments.

I haven’t sold any investments and don’t intend to anytime in the near future, so I can’t comment on the efficiency of the selling process or whether anyone has experienced any issues, but if the selling process works as well as the buying process does, I don’t envisage any major issues. It seems that Sharesies have covered all bases with their custodial service so for now at least, I trust them and their processes. I am a beginner though, so there is always a chance I’ve “missed” something. Time will tell.

yeh I get that it is 'safe' , and I have an account with Sharesies with about 4% of my portfolio, mostly in funds
but as per RTM's experience
for me it is a very important factor to have control over your stuff (or at least the bulk of it).
Complications over ownership are where a lot of issues seem to occur.

[blackcap]

Things are always improving with Sharesies. We now have contract notes for every purchase, which we didn’t have when I signed up. Down the track I hope these will be able to be printed off for anyone who likes to keep a “paper trail” of investments.

I haven’t sold any investments and don’t intend to anytime in the near future, so I can’t comment on the efficiency of the selling process or whether anyone has experienced any issues, but if the selling process works as well as the buying process does, I don’t envisage any major issues. It seems that Sharesies have covered all bases with their custodial service so for now at least, I trust them and their processes. I am a beginner though, so there is always a chance I’ve “missed” something. Time will tell.

I am pretty comfortable too. I guess the only worry is say that Sharesies goes under, and the liquidator takes the assets that are in the custodial service...

Otherwise it should be foolproof.

[couta1]

I am pretty comfortable too. I guess the only worry is say that Sharesies goes under, and the liquidator takes the assets that are in the custodial service...

Otherwise it should be foolproof.

That's why I like ASB or DB they are big fish in a small pond, I dont want a Halifax type scenario with the size of my account.

[justakiwi]

But from what I read at the link above, in the event of Sharesies going bust, the liquidators would not have access Sharesies Nominee Limited. They would be liquidating Sharesies Limited, not the Nominee Company. At least that is how I am reading it.

“If anything were to happen to Sharesies Limited, your money would still be safe because it’s held completely separately in Sharesies Nominee Limited and the NZX Depository! We hold your money and investments in Sharesies Nominee Limited and the NZX Depository ‘on bare trust’. This means we’re holding it on your behalf and in our name, but they still belong to you. We can’t do anything to your money or investments unless you tell us to (e.g. when you use Sharesies to deposit/withdraw money, or buy/sell shares).

I am pretty comfortable too. I guess the only worry is say that Sharesies goes under, and the liquidator takes the assets that are in the custodial service...

Otherwise it should be foolproof.

[blackcap]

But from what I read at the link above, in the event of Sharesies going bust, the liquidators would not have access Sharesies Nominee Limited. They would be liquidating Sharesies Limited, not the Nominee Company. At least that is how I am reading it.

“If anything were to happen to Sharesies Limited, your money would still be safe because it’s held completely separately in Sharesies Nominee Limited and the NZX Depository! We hold your money and investments in Sharesies Nominee Limited and the NZX Depository ‘on bare trust’. This means we’re holding it on your behalf and in our name, but they still belong to you. We can’t do anything to your money or investments unless you tell us to (e.g. when you use Sharesies to deposit/withdraw money, or buy/sell shares).

Agree, it should be safe, its just that you do not 100% know that sharesies actually do put the investments into Sharesies NOminee Limited. And Trust have been busted in the past by good lawyers. Who is to say nominee accounts cannot be busted either. But I am no expert in these matters at all, just have a passing interest. Maybe someone with more knowledge can clarify the matter.

[justakiwi]

True, but if Sharesies were not putting investments into the Nominee Account, as they should be, the annual audit would surely capture that. I get where you’re coming from. I guess we just have to do our homework and follow our gut instincts to some extent.

Agree, it should be safe, its just that you do not 100% know that sharesies actually do put the investments into Sharesies NOminee Limited. And Trust have been busted in the past by good lawyers. Who is to say nominee accounts cannot be busted either. But I am no expert in these matters at all, just have a passing interest. Maybe someone with more knowledge can clarify the matter.