Transferring your Investments

During the current exceptional situation many investment providers are trying to reduce paperwork. At the current time we do not require you to sign and complete any transfer paperwork. If your current provider will not proceed without a signed transfer request, we will revert to you.

Remember too that if you’re transferring cash after selling an investment you will be “out of the market” for a period of time. When markets are volatile, this can mean you miss out on large movements in value, both up and down.

Four steps to transfer

Once you’ve opened either a Barclays Investment ISA, Investment Account or SIPP, you can move your investments across in just four simple steps:

The value of investments can fall as well as rise. You may get back less than you invest. Tax rules can change and their effects on you will depend on your individual circumstances.

Things to be aware of before you transfer

Before transferring your investments, find out about any charges, exit penalties, benefits you may lose or investments that you can’t transfer to us.

We’ll rebate any charges incurred for transferring assets, up to a maximum of £500. You can view the terms and conditions of this offer here

Transferring in cash

If you’re transferring cash after selling your investments and maybe planning to repurchase them, remember you’ll be ‘out of the market’ for a time. That means you’ll miss out on any rise in value and on any income from these investments during that period. You’ll also miss out on any corporate actions such as rights issues and on voting rights as well as any Shareholders’ benefits, for example, discounts on services, which you may not receive on the same terms when you repurchase the shares.

There’ll be dealing charges to sell and repurchase investments. If you make capital gains outside of pensions or ISAs that exceed your annual allowances, you’ll need to pay capital gains tax. Remember, tax rules can and do change, and their effects on you will depend on your individual circumstances, which can also change.

Transferring existing investment holdings

There’ll be a period during the transfer when you won’t be able to sell existing investment holdings. How long this period lasts will depend on the assets you hold, but it may also be affected by how quickly the registrar or fund manager carries out the ownership transfer and whether they’ll accept an order to sell while making the transfer. There may also be delays in receiving dividends, other income and information, as well as delays to exercising shareholder concessions or receiving notification of voting rights or corporate actions, such as rights issues. These could affect your ability to respond where deadlines are shorter.

Transferring in Pensions

In addition to the things that you should consider when transferring all investments there are some additional elements to consider when transferring pensions. Transferring a pension doesn’t affect its tax-efficient status, but you should make sure that you don’t have to pay penalties or give up valuable benefits – and that you're aware of all the risks and drawbacks involved in this. We will not accept transfers of defined benefit pensions (e.g. final or average salary pensions). If you’re unsure whether to transfer a pension, seek professional independent advice. (Pensions are not included in the cashback offer).

Read an explanation of drawbacks and risks to be aware of when transferring pensions [PDF, 204KB].

Transfer

The value of investments can fall as well as rise. You may get back less than you invest. Tax rules can change and their effects on you will depend on your individual circumstances. Before transferring your investments, find out about any charges, exit penalties, benefits you may lose or investments that you can’t transfer to us. If you transfer cash or investments from a Lifetime ISA to an Investment ISA, it will count as a Lifetime ISA withdrawal and you will incur the 25% government charge on the amount transferred.