In-specie ISA transfer possible?

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I am currently holding investments in an ISA with Interactive Brokers (IB).

I donā€™t like my current provider due to certain constraints and fees and I would like to transfer my holdings in-specie to a new provider.

IB my investments via Euroclear. I contacted a few ISA providers and they said they canā€™t do an in-specie transfer because they use CREST, which is incompatible with Euroclear.

Does Trading212 use Euroclear to hold and settle transactions in the UK and is hence compatible with in-specie transfers from Interactive Brokers?

1 Like
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In theory, Trading 212 uses Interactive Brokers (IBKR) as custodian, see

Your shares are held in a pooled account at Interactive Brokers, one of the largest brokers in the worldā€¦

so I would be surprised if they donā€™t do in-specie transfers from IBKR.

Alas, according to this list of supported brokers for portfolio transfers, IBKR is only listed in the ā€œcash transfers (ISA only)ā€ column on the left:

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I wouldnā€™t be surprised if there was a ā€˜non competeā€™ between the two, or it potentially being more difficult mechanically than we think!

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Three of my very ordinary ETFs are with X-O under CREST and this has blocked the In Specie transfer to Trading212. It took weeks for this to emerge, by which time Iā€™d already put this yearā€™s ISA allowance into Trading212. For me this is a bit of a mess. CREST is by far the biggest UK registrar, surely this issue will affect a lot of UK investors wishing to transfer in to Trading212. CREST is operated by Euroclear UK & International. Euroclear is apparently what Trading212 uses. Iā€™m still confused as to why a frictionless transfer cannot be done. Hopefully someone can suggest a way forward that doesnā€™t losing a couple of percent of my ISA due to transaction costs.