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[rak sa_ngop]

I have decided to sell some certificated UK shares which are registered with Equinity Ltd.

Because the address on the shareholding is Thailand, Equinity tell me that they cannot process a sale as they are unable to do a postcode check. They suggest going through a Thai broker or bank to make the sale.

So the options are either to change the address back to a UK address and then press upon a family member to forward correspondence etc, or to find a reputable and inexpensive Thai broker or bank to initiate the sale for me.

I assume that if a Thai bank/broker helps to make the sale the monies can go straight to my UK bank account and not suffer leakage on the way.

I am not interested in setting up a trading account or dealing with Thai stocks and shares. All I want is to sell a parcel of UK shares as easily as possible.

Has anybody done this? Can anyone recommend an honest broker?

Thanks

[wordchild]

i am not sure you need a Thai broker if you can find a UK broker that will accept your Thai address , then get the shares transferred to them and sell. Some UK brokers will accept a non UK address but many wont because of money laundering risks and also the Know Your Client rules.

I must say find it a little odd that Eqinity will not act for you as i believe they are registrars who also conduct share dealing and they must be aware of the history of your shareholding, (so no ML risks for them) I am guessing its a company share scheme as they do a number of these. They are really leaving you in a difficult position and it maybe worth going back to them and trying again or, if it is a company scheme, maybe worth lodging a complaint about this with the company you used to work for.

There are Thai brokers who will trade in certain overseas markets and who will also accept non Thai clients eg Philip or Asia Plus. However they may not be keen to open a account for a one off transaction , and they will be more expensive. that would not be my first choice for what you want to do. i would suggest;

1) trying again with Eqinity. This sounds like a blanket internal rule but i would argue to them , if they have such a rule, how come they have been ok, up to now, with your holding registered through them with your Thai address. Speak to someone senior and be frank about the difficulty of your position. Stress this is a one off transaction (if it is)Also stress you have a UK bank account and would want the proceeds transferred there.

2) if a company scheme talk to the company, they will be concerned about this esp if they have other employee holders who live overseas.

3) is it possible for you to get a temporary UK address that will satisfy Eqinity eg a family member? you are not a new client for Eqinity (again i am guessing) so they may not require all the usual checks eg utility bill.

4) if none of this works try to find a UK broker who will accept your transfer and allow you to trade with a Thai address. I am afraid this has got more and more difficult as many now just have a no (new) overseas client rule. i am not up to date on this and maybe others will post .( maybe TD waterhouse? ) But i would be very surprised if , with a bit of pressure, Eqinity will still not help you out.

Edited November 26, 2013 by wordchild

[Arkady]

Thai banks are not permitted to deal in securities but you can have an international account with a Thai broker to deal in markets outside Thailand which includes the UK. However, this is quite a complicated structure and brokers may limit the shares you can deal in or not accept transfer of shares from elsewhere for custody and sale. Then you need to file for Thai tax on dividends and capital gains and remit proceeds to Thailand if not reinvested within two weeks.

These people may be able to help, if you can't find a UK broker willing to help. http://int.tddirectinvesting.com/ . They deal with expatriates and can trade in the UK market without restriction but may require a minimum deposit to open an account.

[wordchild]

another thought; you say you have a UK bank , do they have a share trading service eg barclays? if they do, consider opening a trading account with them and getting the shares transferred to that.

[rak sa_ngop]

Thanks for your detailed replies.

I have made more phone calls and spoke to Equinity again (not the help line though). It seems that there is a blanket requirement about requiring a UK address to buy or sell shares with them as an individual. However there is no mention of being a UK resident so any address will probably do.

I asked about reissuing the certificates with my current Thai address (because I have a dealing account with a Luxembourg bank that uses my Thai address). They said this was not necessary as the certificates were still valid and were only traded by their certificate numbers not by the address on the certificate.

So I talked to my Luxembourg bank and they agreed that they would try and make the sale for me.

So it transpires that the Equinity help line did not tell me the full story. It seems I can use any bank/broker outside the UK to make the sale for me. And although I did not ask directly wouldn't any bank/broker within the UK be able to do the same? Not sure.

One problem with using a UK bank is that when I tried opening a share dealing account with NatWest about 10 years ago I thought that being a 30 year NatWest account holder would be a good reference. However NatWest share dealing was actually a seperate company and I was rejected because I did not have my name on the UK electoral roll (even though I had a permanent address in the UK).

Anyway the good news out all this is that I do not need to deal with a Thai broker (would definitely end up a broken man I think).

i will try my Luxembourg bank first. The staff they have on their help lines are so much better trained and informed than the staff manning UK help lines. If that does not work I will impose myself on some UK relatives for a UK address.

Thanks again

[nahkit]

i am not sure you need a Thai broker if you can find a UK broker that will accept your Thai address , then get the shares transferred to them and sell. Some UK brokers will accept a non UK address but many wont because of money laundering risks and also the Know Your Client rules.

I must say find it a little odd that Eqinity will not act for you as i believe they are registrars who also conduct share dealing and they must be aware of the history of your shareholding, (so no ML risks for them) I am guessing its a company share scheme as they do a number of these. They are really leaving you in a difficult position and it maybe worth going back to them and trying again or, if it is a company scheme, maybe worth lodging a complaint about this with the company you used to work for.

There are Thai brokers who will trade in certain overseas markets and who will also accept non Thai clients eg Philip or Asia Plus. However they may not be keen to open a account for a one off transaction , and they will be more expensive. that would not be my first choice for what you want to do. i would suggest;

1) trying again with Eqinity. This sounds like a blanket internal rule but i would argue to them , if they have such a rule, how come they have been ok, up to now, with your holding registered through them with your Thai address. Speak to someone senior and be frank about the difficulty of your position. Stress this is a one off transaction (if it is)Also stress you have a UK bank account and would want the proceeds transferred there.

2) if a company scheme talk to the company, they will be concerned about this esp if they have other employee holders who live overseas.

3) is it possible for you to get a temporary UK address that will satisfy Eqinity eg a family member? you are not a new client for Eqinity (again i am guessing) so they may not require all the usual checks eg utility bill.

4) if none of this works try to find a UK broker who will accept your transfer and allow you to trade with a Thai address. I am afraid this has got more and more difficult as many now just have a no (new) overseas client rule. i am not up to date on this and maybe others will post .( maybe TD waterhouse? ) But i would be very surprised if , with a bit of pressure, Eqinity will still not help you out.

Yes, you would think logic would prevail but experience tells me otherwise.

I had a couple of investment trusts that ended up being part of Halifax Sharedealing following a takeover. I'd had them for years and all dividends were re-invested. When Halifax took them over, they stopped automatically re-investing the dividends and said I had to fill out an anti money laundering form in order to re-invest the dividends because "we don't know where this money is coming from".

As I was overseas it took me two years to get it sorted out, dealing with one jobsworth after another.

I eventually ended up doing what you suggested in your other post, I transferred them to my Natwest broker account which I'd had for years.