CLIENT MONEY AND ASSETS HELD BY WALKER CRIPS
STOCKBROKERS AND WALKER CRIPS ASSET MANAGERS
We appreciate that, in the current financial and economic climate, you may have
some questions regarding the security of investments held on your behalf by
firms within the Walker Crips Group plc. We hope the information below will
answer some of your questions.
Walker Crips Group plc is an independent publicly quoted company. We are not
owned by a bank, nor do we provide usual banking services. We take a long-term
and prudent view to the way our business is run, as we do to the management of
our clients’ assets. Walker Crips Stockbrokers and Walker Crips Asset Managers
are authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA).
CLIENT MONEY
How does WALKER CRIPS STOCKBROKERS AND WALKER CRIPS ASSET
MANAGERS hold my money?
We hold all client money in accordance with the FSA client money rules. These
rules require us to hold clients’ money separately from the firm’s money with
an EU regulated credit institution.
For added security, we spread pooled client deposits between several banks, all
of which are fully authorised and regulated by the FSA. In the unlikely event
that any of these banks default, you would be entitled to claim compensation
from the UK’s Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). We regularly
review the creditworthiness of these banks to ensure only those with a high
credit rating are utilised.
We have a signed written undertaking from the underlying banks that no right of
offset exists between credit balances held on behalf of our clients and any
indebtedness of Walker Crips Group or any of our subsidiaries held with the
same institution.
How much protection is provided?
FSCS rules have fixed the maximum compensation limit at £85,000 per person, per
authorised institution. You should be aware, though, that all of your balances
with any particular bank, including your personal accounts, would be aggregated
in the event that the compensation scheme was triggered. More information on
this is available on the FCSC web-site as detailed below.
CLIENT INVESTMENTS
What about assets held by nominee companies?
As you are probably aware, Walker Crips Stockbrokers and Walker Crips Asset
Managers use nominee companies to register and administer holdings on our
clients’ behalf. All of these nominee companies are separate legal entities and
do not trade. Your investments are held in pooled accounts with those of other
clients, meaning that individual customer entitlements may not be identifiable
by either separate certificates, other physical documents of title or
electronic record. In the event of an irrecoverable shortfall following the
default of a custodian, this would be shared in proportion to your original
share of the assets in the pool. A nominee company takes only the legal title
to the assets with you, the client, retaining the beneficial ownership.
Clients’ assets that are registered in the name of one of our nominee companies
are held in trust and are not regarded by third parties as belonging to Walker
Crips Stockbrokers Ltd, Walker Crips Asset Managers Ltd or Walker Crips Group
plc. In the extremely unlikely event that any of the firms within the Walker
Crips Group plc defaults, clients’ assets would remain entirely separate from
those of the Group and could not be used to settle any debts accrued by the
firm or the group.
In line with FSA requirements, we reconcile all clients’ holdings at least once
every month for dematerialised stock and every six months for certificated
stock. Furthermore, all holdings must be confirmed with you, as the beneficial
owner on an annual basis.
In certain circumstances, primarily with securities held overseas, local law and
regulations may mean that the investments have to be held in a name other than
WB Nominees Limited. As a consequence your investments may not be segregated in
the way outlined above and the protection may be less.
As an additional safeguard, all firms within the Walker Crips Group plc are
audited annually by Deloitte and Touche LLP and comply with the Audit Assurance
Faculty (formerly FRAG21). Walker Crips Group plc also adheres to the FSA
financial stability regulations under the Capital Requirements Directive which
requires that we maintain a minimum level of financial resources at all times.
How much protection is provided?
FSCS rules have fixed the maximum compensation limit of £50,000 per person,
per authorised firm. More information on this is available on the FSCS
web-site as detailed below.
What about Walker Crips Group’s security of assets?
As you would expect, Walker Crips Group plc has taken great care to ensure the
quality of its insurance provision. As a result, we have specialist indemnity
cover in place that will protect us and our clients in the event of fraud,
misappropriation or theft to any client’s assets in our custody and control,
including both cash and securities.
We hope that this information has addressed any concerns you may have had about
money or investments held by Walker Crips Group plc. If you still have
questions, we will be happy to answer them and would ask you to contact your
usual Account Executive in the first instance. Please also refer to the
websites below:
FSA Consumer Website:
http://www.moneymadeclear.org.uk
Financial Services Compensation Scheme:
http://www.fscs.org.uk
New Deposit Guarantee Limit to be £85,000
http://www.fsa.gov.uk/Pages/Library/communication/PR/2010/181.shtml
