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On 10 May Polymetal briefed on actions to be taken by PI's with POLY on LSE(CREST). I am one, with UK domicile and an iWeb ISA nominee account and a nominee trading account with Jarvis X-O. My options are stated to be as follows:-

Transfer to an AIX eligible broker : Freedom Finance cannot currently offer accounts to UK residents. Wood &Co. offer custody only,as is stated, and fees are substantial- their target is high net worth individuals ( sadly I am not), and there is no ISA facility. This also applies to Halyk, with the addition that their fee structure I found really hard to get my head round.

Withdraw shares in Certificated form My brokers will not provide certificates, and this applies to the vast majority, including HL. Interactive Investors may do, but for me this would require an ISA transfer, which could take several weeks during which access to my shares is uncertain. Further, there could be significant costs involved and it is unclear whether II would continue to offer this service for new investors. Therefore the Tabys option requiring paper certificates is also not practicable for me, and no doubt most others.

Transfer to the AIX CSD through Tabys app I would use this, and have downloaded the app, but as your info states, electronic transfer is not currently available.

Sell in Advance/forced liquidation "Shareholder Benefits - None" Exactly!!

So in fact Evgeny, although the alternatives for transfer to AIX are helpfully set out By Polymetal, none of them seem realistically and currently to UK residents holding Polymetal in a nominee broker account, which must be the vast number of UK private investors.

What is really needed is a reputable broker to achieve a listing on AIX Astana AND to offer an ISA tax wrapper to UK residents. Trading 212,an international; for instance offers a UK ISA but is not listed on AIX. Could they, or someone like them, be "incentivised" by Polymetal to do so. Or could any of the UK brokers similarly be "financially encouraged", e.g. with the AIX brokerage application and listing fees, maybe for a limited period? The cost of re-dom must be considerable to Polymetal. The brokerage fees of AIX seem very substantial to me admittedly, but in the context of the cost of a major Plc re- domiciling and de-listing, perhaps not so much?

In any case, this situation is of growing concern to PIs such as myself and I do feel there must be a solution with some encouragement and negotiation with third parties. Even if a Broker cannot be found for UK residents, then at least the Tabys electronic transfer would assist somewhat, although the ideal solution as I have said is to find an ISA providing Broker who will be prepared to list as a Broker on AIX. Surely this is not really a political issue- Kazakhstan and its Astana exchange is perfectly acceptable to UK HM Gov, as a recognised stock exchange in a non-sanctioned country. Someone just needs encouragement, maybe financially and/or otherwise.

Hi Jotom

This is wot I wrote, to the gentleman who had responded to another poster about POLY issues.

POLYMETAL INTL PLC ORD NP- For the attention of Mr. Vladimír Vávra CEE Equities Sales Trader, please

11/5/2023 10:10

To wood@wood.cz "Dear Mr Vávra

I am aware of your response to Polymetal private individual ("retail") shareholders in the UK who are holding POLY stock on the LSE. I am grateful to Wood & Company for engaging with Polymetal and ourselves, and note that matters are "under development" currently. I would like to raise one issue of great importance to persons in my own position, of whom there are many I believe. POLY shares were bought as a long term investment and dividends- until recent events anyway it has never been a great trading share for private individuals.

You will be aware I think that UK investors have a government tax break of an Individual Savings Account (ISA) where we can add 20,000 GBP each year to a stocks and shares ISA account, and this is free of all tax on any gains, and importantly, removes any obligation on the individual to make tax returns as regards any ISA transactions.

Currently I hold approx XX,000 POLY shares in my ISA account. If I have to SELL them out of the ISA I will lose that tax and accounting advantage for ever. So that is more than £XX,000 GBP (X years x maximum contribution of 20,000 GBP) which I will lose the ISA benefit of.

UK tax regulation for a qualifying ISA stock is that it be registered on a "recognised" Stock Exchange. AIX is such an exchange, recognised by the UK since 2019.

Further, I note that it is not necessary for a stockbroker intermediary to be registered in the UK to offer an ISA account facility (and I note you do have a London office anyway) - for instance Trading212 offers an ISA and is mainly based in Bulgaria and Cyprus I believe, although it does have a company registered at UK Companies House, as indeed does Wood & Company, as a Czech company.

So I of course do not know the technical issues, and difficulties, if any, for an intermediary broker to set up to offer UK ISA "wrapper" accounts, but I am respectfully asking that if there is any possibilty of your Company doing so it would be of tremendous benefit to many people such as myself.

BLAH BLAH- couple of lines as to personal circs, & cont'd:-

"I apologise for the length of this email, and I hope that you can give consideration to offering an ISA facility to your soon-to-be new UK clients. That would be so much appreciated.

Yours sincerely and very best regards"

REDINJUN:- Q. so we can become our own ISA provider?

A. Not everything the ferret proposes should necessarily be taken at face value. In theory yes, anyone can qualify to be an ISA Manager provider, as I read the Application Form. However, not all PIs are likely to have the experience, intellect and integrity like what I have got,so sadly I would have to advise (and please DYOR), NO, not everyone can.

Hi all. My first posting since Sirius Minerals disaster- its taken that long to amass a decent pot to invest.. I am now, up to my neck as usual with a 225p or so average, mostly in my ISA- Poly is obviously the sure thing that SXX never was, although I note Anglo American are going great guns at the polyhalite extraction (why is everything poly?), bast**ds.
Anyhoo, I am just posting an edited version of some info from MoneyWeek which gives a concise explanation of some of the jurisdiction and listing issues under discussion. Its from 2013 but the principles remain current. ATB RF: -

“It's a good idea to get exposure to international shares in your search for income and growth and to diversify your portfolio. But when it comes to putting such shares in an Isa, the rules aren't entirely straightforward and many brokers don't make things easy. Here are the key things to be aware of.
What can you hold? The regulations say you can hold foreign stocks listed on a "recognised stock exchange" in an Isa. In general, the main exchanges in most major developed markets qualify, as do a number of emerging-market exchanges. Small caps and growth companies often do not.
RF NOTE- and we have established that AIX most certainly has been HMRC recognised since 2019
"However, the fact that an investment would be permitted under HMRC rules doesn't mean every Isa provider will allow you to hold it. Most brokers only trade a limited selection of international markets. And even within these, some may only allow a more restricted range of foreign securities than HMRC's rules permit.
funds will not be eligible.
What's the tax treatment? Isas will shelter you from UK income and capital gains tax on foreign shares, but don't receive special treatment from tax authorities in other countries. This means that, if the foreign government deducts withholding tax from dividends, you will suffer the same deduction that you would if you held the same share outside an Isa.However, if you are normally entitled to reclaim some of this withholding tax from the foreign government under a double taxation agreement (DTA) between the UK and the foreign country, you should be able to reclaim this for shares held in an Isa too.
What will it cost?There is one big catch to holding foreign stocks in an Isa: any tax savings you make can easily be swamped by added costs. That's partly because brokers typically charge higher trading fees for international stocks and higher account fees for Isas than for a regular account, but also because most brokers charge you commission for converting sterling into a foreign currency and back again.This currency charge can be up to 2% in some cases and isa big hidden cost of international investing - often greater than the trading fee itself. For this reason, it's best to avoid converting currencies more than you have to but the regulations only allow cash in sterling within an Isa.So you will need to convert to and from sterling. These costs add u

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