Standard slams Towry transfer errors

Standard Life says only a third of its Towry transfers have been completed and has lambasted the wealth adviser over a catalogue of errors in its transferral process.

In a note sent to advisers, Standard Life reveals of 1,500 transfer requests received since January, only 500 have been completed and the receipt of "inaccurate information" lies at the heart of the delays.

"Towry have stated publicly that the backlog had been cleared, however this is not the experience at Standard Life," says the note.

The assets belong to those of former clients of Edward Jones, which was acquired by Towry last October.

Amongst a list of errors giving rise to the delays are missing stock confirmations and the receipt of cash or stock that has not been requested.

In its note, Standard highlights the role played by third party administrator SEI.

"Towry have appointed a third party administrator, SEI, to process their outstanding transfers," it says. "SEI have issued pool transfers instructions which should help to speed up the overall transfer process. However, we have seen some delays caused by receiving inaccurate information."

Such errors include receipt of cash or stock not requested, errors in sending cash where stock has been requested and vice versa and receipt of stock or cash without enough information to identify clients.

Further problems revolve around ISA transfers - with cash or stock being sent without ISA statements, along with ISA statements lacking information - and missing or incomplete stock confirmations.

Referring to Towry's claim to have cleared the backlog, Standard says: "It is possible Towry was referring to having issued all instructions to complete the transfers to their third party administrator SEI, however this does not represent the end to end experience for the underlying clients."

The errors have come to light after Standard's transfer team ring-fenced the Towry transfers in order to monitor and control them. Noting the majority of normal transfers take around four to six weeks to complete, it says the Towry case has been surrounded by "unusual circumstances".

Standard adds the volume of transfers increased around June as Towry "resolved some of their issues" but says this in itself created problems.

"The increased arrival of transfers from Towry has also caused us to experience some delays completing the transfer of equities and corporate bonds."

It adds it is working hard with partner Selftrade, which manages the trade and settlement of assets on its behalf, to clear the backlog.

"Our priority is to ensure all transfers are completed as quickly and accurately as possible on behalf of our IFAs and their clients," says a Standard spokesperson.

Towry head of marketing Peter Foster says: "The note Standard Life issued to IFAs was to aid those seeking clarification on transfers, and clearly shows both Standard Life and Towry working together to sort an admin backlog.

"We have a good working relationship with Standard Life and continue to work with them to ensure clients transfers are processed as quickly as possible"

Despite Towry claiming in August it had cleared the backlog of transfer requests from former Edward Jones clients, it emerged last week Ascentric is still waiting on £50m of assets. It is understood the FSA is now looking into the matter.