A further 750 Beaufort clients get money and assets back, courtesy of FSCS and PwC
More than 750 clients of Beaufort Asset Clearing Services have been reunited with their funds and assets, thanks to compensation paid by Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) in the wake of the stockbroker’s collapse 10 months ago. In total, more than 16,100 clients (of 17,500) have now been compensated by FSCS.
The 754 Beaufort clients have been transferred to the broker The Share Centre. A tranche of cash and assets are being returned to them via close collaboration between FSCS and the firm’s special administrators PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
The 754 clients were able to begin accessing their transferred money and assets from the morning of Monday 28 January. Any remaining client assets and client money not transferred to The Share Centre in this tranche but that are still eligible for transfer will be moved to relevant nominated brokers in later tranches.
Mark Neale, FSCS’s Chief Executive, said:
“Most Beaufort clients have now gained access to their money and assets, after months of hard work by FSCS and PwC. This tremendous achievement is thanks to the continuing collaborative approach by both organisations to ensure that most clients are now back on track.”
The collaborative work between FSCS and PwC means that over 16,100 of Beaufort’s 17,500 clients have received most of their money and assets such as ISAs and pensions. The remaining clients are affected by a variety of more complex issues around foreign assets and may have to wait a bit longer to be transferred.
In September 2018, just over 12,000 Beaufort clients were transferred to The Share Centre, where they were able to access their cash and assets. In November a further 3,350 gained access to their cash and assets – 3,000 clients transferred to The Share Centre and 350 in Wales via another broker, AFH Private Wealth.
Beaufort Securities Limited (BSL) and Beaufort Asset Clearing Services Limited (BACSL) serviced private investors, corporate clients and institutions.
FSCS is protecting the vast majority of Beaufort’s 17,500 clients by compensating for any shortfall arising from the costs of returning cash and assets so that those costs will not need to be taken from client assets and client money. FSCS will arrange for these costs to be met directly with PwC. The vast majority of individual Beaufort clients are not expected to suffer any loss.
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