IG Australia charging quarterly A$50 share dealing subscription fee

[jabroni]

"We are replacing our inactivity fee on share trading accounts with a quarterly $50 subscription fee."

Well time to move my shares to commsec

thanks for the cheaper trade buys but im HODLing 

[AnitaR]

Just got that email, Guess I’ll be moving too

[asxhodl]

Same here, will be taking my business to selfwealth. This simply isn't what I signed up for. 

[mcrose]

I will be closing my account,as this wasn't what I agreed to when I signed up.

You will lose lots of customers over this IG.

[Not a happy customer]

What a sneaky thing to do.... just not happy taking me and my wifes account off to ANZ.... talk about bait and switch

[Not a happy customer]

29 minutes ago, TrendFollower said:

Have any of you considered IG's Spread Betting account?

Also anyone from the UK will benefit from not having to pay any tax on profits. It is more tax efficient. Also it allows you to take advantage of leverage.

At the end of the day when one invests in a share on the long side they are merely making an assumption that the share price will rise in value. Why not just take the same position via Spread Betting?

What are you talking about check where you are posting.

[Guest Long term investor]

What's the best platform to move to for long term investing? Commsec seems pretty high

[PandaFace]

Looking at the terms (similar to IG UK) “deal at least three times across either of your share trading or CFD accounts during the quarter”.

So basically deal once a month doesn’t sound that bad? Also if you don’t wanna be share dealing open a CFD and bang out three trades a quarter on fx - in and out - on EURUSD it’s like, 0.6 spread so 1.8 spread total. Unsure what minimum trade size you have but we have £1 so assume you’ll have A$1 aswell? So it’ll cost A$1.80...

ya’ll can read right? ? probs not worth getting het up about

[Caseynotes]

5 hours ago, jabroni said:

"We are replacing our inactivity fee on share trading accounts with a quarterly $50 subscription fee."

Hi @PandaFace, I think the above quote from the first post is the problem, presumably the recent email to Oz clients supersedes the now out-dated terms.

Has anyone in the UK received any emails on this topic? 

Edited August 28, 2018 by Caseynotes

[Earl of Banterbury]

Huh. I dont think I've received this email.

[JamesIG]

9 minutes ago, Earl of Banterbury said:

Huh. I dont think I've received this email.

Please see a screenshot of the email correspondence sent out earlier today. Please note this applies to Australian share dealing accounts specifically (those who have opened a share dealing account through our Aus office - CFD  accounts are exempt). 

Links above in red are listed below for convenience: 

• AU IG Share Trading customer Agreement
• Other fees

[StevoCoin]

This fee change is ridiculous! I moved to IG to get good value! I recommended IG to my family, now I’ll have to help them switch. We’re long term investors, not day traders. We only make a handful of trades per year. Now they’ll essentially steal $50 a quarter for doing nothing if I don’t make 3 trades in three months. I didn’t sign up for this nonsense! ComSec waits an entire year before slugging people with an inactivity fee of US$25 and they only charge that on accounts with International trading enabled.

If IG doesn’t roll this back they can say goodbye to my business! 

[Guest njd007]

I switched from CMC earlier this year after finding out about your slightly cheaper fees.

There is no way I will be making 3 trades a quarter - and no way I will be paying $50 a quarter for no extra service or features.

Say goodbye to all your long term investors. I'm going back to CMC and will recommend all family and friends and investment forums to get away from this blatant cash grab.

[Earl of Banterbury]

2 hours ago, JamesIG said:

Please see a screenshot of the email correspondence sent out earlier today. Please note this applies to Australian share dealing accounts specifically (those who have opened a share dealing account through our Aus office - CFD  accounts are exempt). 

Links above in red are listed below for convenience: 

• AU IG Share Trading customer Agreement
• Other fees

This is extremely poor. 

It basically forces investors into a short term strategy even though a lot of their portfolio they might want to hold long term. Especially in bear markets where trades might take longer to mature. 

Stinging people 15-20 bucks a month for nothing even though they might just be holding stocks until they want to sell.

Disappointing.

[trade247]

tbf a monthly / quarterly charge is pretty commonplace.

[Earl of Banterbury]

41 minutes ago, cryptotrader said:

tbf a monthly / quarterly charge is pretty commonplace.

Account maintenance fees and brokerage fees are commonplace. 

A potential $200aud charge per year just to maintain a long term portfolio with positions borders on ludicrous. 

Not many other brokerages that aren't catering to solely day traders are doing stuff like that. IG has never assumed the guise of a short term trading only platform. The share trading platform itself isn't good enough to warrant that sort of charge.

Edited August 28, 2018 by Earl of Banterbury

[trade247]

6 minutes ago, Earl of Banterbury said:

 IG has never assumed the guise of a short term trading only platform.

40 odd years as a leveraged CFD provider? That should be used pretty short term if you ask me.

7 minutes ago, Earl of Banterbury said:

The share trading platform itself isn't good enough to warrant that sort of charge.

Granted this is true though - they really need to update the share dealing platform now and bring it more in line with the leveraged offering. Have you ever checked out the CFD platform? It's pretty good. Now they just need to apply to shares.

[Earl of Banterbury]

8 minutes ago, cryptotrader said:

40 odd years as a leveraged CFD provider? That should be used pretty short term if you ask me.

Granted this is true though - they really need to update the share dealing platform now and bring it more in line with the leveraged offering. Have you ever checked out the CFD platform? It's pretty good. Now they just need to apply to shares.

I have both platforms and I agree. I just don't really see the point of offering a share trading platform if you're not really going to cater your fees for a large portion of that sort of investor. It might not affect me personally most months at all, but some quarters it might. It might affect heaps of mums and dads that just set up a portfolio.

I know it's in IG's best business interest for investors to trade as much as possible and preferably on contract trades, win or lose. I just wish this fee was done in a way to make it less obvious for that to be their end goal.

Edited August 28, 2018 by Earl of Banterbury

[AMT]

What a disastrous thing to do from IG. Talking about putting the customer last... Business’s that do this fail. Good job IG. Moving my account now

[bearbull]

More and more brokers are introducing fees now. It just seems to be the way things are going.

[AnitaR]

Just trying to work out transfer out fee, in one area it says free and in another it says $50 per line, anyone know which it is? (I’m new at this ) 

[Guest NCS]

Can anyone help on how to transfer out? The transfer forms from other brokers ask for HIN or SRN to be filled in but IG doesn't provide these numbers as far as I can tell 

[asxhodl]

5 hours ago, AnitaR said:

Just trying to work out transfer out fee, in one area it says free and in another it says $50 per line, anyone know which it is? (I’m new at this ) 

Transfering to another broker is discussed in this whirlpool thread here: https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/2698381

From what I'm aware of the $50 transfer fee is if you are transfering your shares to an issuer-sponsored format, which is something held directly with the register of that company whose shares you hold. Not 100% sure and someone please correct me if I'm wrong but this basically means you hold the shares yourself without a broker-sponsor (like IG is) and without a CHESS/HIN (like CommSec or NabTrade). 

CommSec has some info here: https://www.commsec.com.au/support/frequently-asked-questions/410.html

From what I gather you just need to submit a broker to broker transfer form with your new broker. It might be a little more complicated because IG doesnt use CHESS/HIN, but I think the process is still the same. If someone knows more please correct me, this is just my understanding from reading online, I'm no expert.

[PennyMoney]

7 hours ago, asxhodl said:

From what I gather you just need to submit a broker to broker transfer form with your new broker. It might be a little more complicated because IG doesnt use CHESS/HIN, but I think the process is still the same. If someone knows more please correct me, this is just my understanding from reading online, I'm no expert. 

I asked Commsec about this today. Their advice is that the shares purchased through IG and held by Citicorp Nominees as custodian need to be "released to CHESS [to another broker] and you can then complete the Broker to Broker form to transfer the shares."

I have no idea what to do next... I don't have a dedicated broker. I simply want to consolidate a share holding with Commsec (although I have used ANZ in the past too)

It seems that having either an HIN (for CHESS) or an SRN for issuer-sponsored shares is critical.
 

If anyone has any tips, please let me know! Thanks

[JamesIG]

Hey all - to make sure that you all receive the most accurate and up to date information I'm going to ask @JasmineC from our Australian office to reply with the relevant information on transferring stock, and 'next steps' for those who wish to do this. 

[JasmineC]

Hello all, to transfer shares out of IG, you will have to request the receiving broker to contact us to initiate the transfer.

As mentioned above, our share trading accounts operate under a direct custody model, meaning that instead of you – the client – being personally registered on CHESS, it is our custodian Citicorp Nominees who will hold the HIN for all shares held with us. The custody model is a standard global practice that allows our clients to trade local and international shares easily and is cost effective.

For this reason, we will not be able to provide you a HIN or SRN. Please ask the receiving broker to contact us, and we will provide this information to them directly .  

Generally, to complete a transfer form, the receiving broker only needs our PID (CHESS Participant Identification number), which is 20018.

In addition, broker-to-broker transfers are free (like to CommSec or NebTrade), issuer sponsored transfers will incur a $50 charge per line of stock.

I hope the above clarifies, if you have any further queries please do not hesitate to contact us.

[asxhodl]

James and Jasmine, appreciate your help, can't fault IG's customer service here. 

[JasmineC]

Hi @asxhodl, thanks for your kind reply. 

[Debra62]

I have used IG for a year now and have been very happy with the charges and service provided. But common, to whack us with a no trading charge of $50.00 is just ridiculous.  I now also feel very embarrassed for telling all my mates to switch to IG. One thing is for sure, we will all be moving elsewhere

[Guest njd007]

11 hours ago, JasmineC said:

Hello all, to transfer shares out of IG, you will have to request the receiving broker to contact us to initiate the transfer.

As mentioned above, our share trading accounts operate under a direct custody model, meaning that instead of you – the client – being personally registered on CHESS, it is our custodian Citicorp Nominees who will hold the HIN for all shares held with us. The custody model is a standard global practice that allows our clients to trade local and international shares easily and is cost effective.

For this reason, we will not be able to provide you a HIN or SRN. Please ask the receiving broker to contact us, and we will provide this information to them directly .  

Generally, to complete a transfer form, the receiving broker only needs our PID (CHESS Participant Identification number), which is 20018.

In addition, broker-to-broker transfers are free (like to CommSec or NebTrade), issuer sponsored transfers will incur a $50 charge per line of stock.

I hope the above clarifies, if you have any further queries please do not hesitate to contact us.

Thank you for your response.

Does this only apply to Australian shares?

How does one go about transferring US shares?