Twist in Towry transfer saga as Transact hits out

The ongoing Towry transfer debacle is no closer to resolution because the wealth adviser is not completing its part of the re-registration process, platform Transact says.

Earlier this month, Towry claimed it had cleared the backlog of asset transfers away from the firm and was dealing only with “ongoing tasks” related to re-registration.

It acknowledged some clients’ assets would take time to register with their new custodians, but said the matter was now out of its hands.

However, Transact says the number of transfers containing complete information continues to come through very slowly.

"Towry claimed it had met its deadline to complete the transfers but this turns out not to be the case," Transact head of marketing Malcolm Murray says.

"The actions required to be carried out by Towry and its administrators are far from completed."

Possible causes for the new delays may lie with third parties appointed by Towry to carry out the re-registration, or because some transfers are being sent in bulk and do not break down which units belong to which clients.

"Wherever the fault lies, it is preventing nominees to which these cases are being re-registered completing the task,” Murray says.

Ascentric sales and marketing director Richard Goodall says the wrap is receiving a number of bulk re-registrations from Towry but needs more detail before it can complete the transfers.

However, he says the situation is improving. “It is getting better in terms of cash coming in,” he says. “Things might be coming through slowly but there is light at the end of the tunnel.”

But Murray says Transact has a large number of re-registrations to process and is “frustrated” it cannot complete them quickly.

“Like many others, Transact is caught up in this re-registration debacle. The result is that Transact is still not in a position to complete the reconciliation of these transfers.”

A Towry spokesperson says the company has done everything in its power to resolve the transfer delays.

“We are not aware there are any specific problems with Transact,” he says. “We cannot find anything in our books to say we haven’t done something we said we would.

“Transact asked us to slow down the volume of transfers a few weeks ago because they were being processed too quickly for them to cope with.

“We completed our processes in the timeframe we set out. There is further administration involved but this is now in the hands of other parties and Towry has done everything it can.”

In July, IFAonline revealed delays in transferring £75m worth of assets on to Ascentric were costing the wrap £15,000 per month.