How to transfer to another provider

Frequently asked questions

• What should I check first?

  Make sure you’re 100% confident that you’ll benefit from transferring and that you won’t lose valuable guarantees or need to pay high set-up fees.

• How much does it cost to transfer my HL Account?

  There is no charge to transfer your account away from HL. If you need to sell investments before transferring dealing charges may apply. Before transferring, please ensure you’ll benefit from doing so, and won’t lose valuable guarantees or need to pay high set-up fees.

  If your investments are sold and transferred as cash, you’ll be out of the market until your transfer completes. If markets fall, this will work in your favour. But if markets rise, you’ll miss out on those potential gains.

• What could slow me down?

  If your new provider holds a fund in a different share class, we’ll need to convert this before transfer, which can take a few days to complete and confirm with them. Transferring stocks is a complex process, so we may take some time, with your new provider, making sure everything is correct for your transfer.

  If you are transferring your HL SIPP to a non-mainstream pension provider then we may need to request further information about your new pension provider. This could increase the time it takes to transfer your SIPP.

• Can I cancel a transfer?

  It’s possible to cancel your transfer, but you’ll need to let us, and your new provider, know as soon as possible. We can accept a written letter, or a secure message sent from your online account. Please confirm the specific details of the provider and which transfer should be stopped.

  Depending on which account you have, you can also call our Pensions or Investment Helpdesk who will be more than happy to help.

• How will my account be transferred?

  An instruction to transfer is not an instruction to sell your investments, unless you include a specific sale instruction. Usually you can choose to either sell your investments first and transfer uninvested cash or keep your investments and transfer them as they are. You should confirm your decision with your new provider, but your choice could be limited by the service that they offer, so it’s good to check with them first.

  If your new provider can’t accept a particular investment that you hold, they should contact you to confirm your options. This could include selling, converting the investment to a fund class they can hold or potentially cancelling the transfer of those specific investments.

  When transferring your investments as they are, you’ll stay invested throughout the process. You can continue to monitor your investments and make changes right up until the point of transfer. However, if there are pending trades or dealing instructions on your account this could delay your transfer and no changes can be made while the transfer is in progress. Any uninvested cash held will be transferred last.

• What happens when I transfer my investments?

  When transferring shares, we’ll arrange dates for trade and settlement with your new provider. Usually share settlement takes around 2 days after the day of trade. The shares will be removed from your HL portfolio and will appear in your new account, with your new provider, once they’ve settled.

  When funds are transferred to a new provider, the units must be re-registered with the fund manager. We’ll send each fund manager the appropriate transfer form and, once we receive confirmation that the re-registration to your new provider is complete, we will remove your funds from your HL portfolio. They’ll appear in your new account once your new provider has received confirmation from the fund manager that the re-registration is complete.

  Any uninvested cash in your account will be transferred using faster payment or CHAPS, depending on the value. This will be done last, once all your investments have been transferred and settled.

• What happens when I sell my investments and transfer as cash?

  Selling shares – Your shares will be sold as soon as possible, and standard dealing rates will apply. This is a charge of 1% of the value of the trade (minimum charge £20, maximum charge £50). For overseas investments standard foreign exchange charges will apply.

  If you’d prefer to sell your investments yourself before transferring, you can do this online at a cheaper rate for shares, investment trusts, gilts/bonds and ETFs.

  After your investments are sold, the money needs to settle before it can be transferred. This usually takes 2 days from the day of trade.

  Selling funds – Your fund units will be sold as soon as possible and without charge. Fund sales usually take about 4 days after trading to settle. Once settled, the uninvested cash can be transferred to your new provider.

  Uninvested cash – Any money from investment sales, plus any other uninvested cash, will be transferred to your new provider by faster payment or CHAPS depending on the value. There is no charge for this.

• What is a fund conversion and when does this happen?

  A fund conversion is when your fund is changed to a different unit class without the need to buy or sell. This means if your new provider doesn’t hold the exact same fund class as HL, you can keep the fund, just in a different unit class. You will remain in the market and conversion does not count as a disposal for Capital Gains Tax. There is no charge to convert funds.

  Your fund value should remain the same, but you’ll see a change in Unit Class name (e.g. ‘Class X’ to ‘Class I’) and the unit price and number of units will normally change too.

• How will I know you’ve started my transfer?

  Once we’ve received your transfer request, we’ll send you a secure message in your HL account, or a letter in the post if you haven’t registered for our paperless service.

• When will I hear from my new provider?

  This varies depending on the provider you’ve chosen, but they should contact you once they’ve got your application and keep you updated until the transfer is complete. If they need any information from you then they should let you know.

• How will I know when the transfer completes?

  We’ll send you a secure message in your HL account, or a letter in the post if you no longer hold an HL account or haven’t registered for our paperless service.

• What if I’m due tax relief in my SIPP?

  If you’re transferring your HL SIPP and you’ve recently made a personal contribution, this won’t affect the transfer of any investments, but we’ll usually wait for the tax relief to be received before transferring any remaining uninvested cash. This is because some providers can’t accept smaller payment amounts or won’t accept further payments after the initial transfer is received.

  If you know this isn’t the case for your new provider, and you want us to transfer everything straight away, and any tax relief later, then please just let us know and we can arrange this for you.

• What if I’m due a dividend payment?

  If you’re due a dividend payment, this won’t delay your transfer. We’ll forward it to your new provider once we have it.