Member Info for Superjim

Sounds extremely frustrating Gaz! Not really sure what to suggest other than to contact Barcs again and find out what your options are as it appears they are still holding the shares.

Half of my original shareholding in STEL was in an ISA. I've now been allocated my Newfield shares in my share dealing account but still awaiting the ones in my ISA. I haven't been told at any point that there would be a problem with this as you can hold foreign shares in an ISA as long as it's a recognised exchange which the ASX is. Was told yesterday that IG are in the process of going through all the accounts to allocate the shares and it should be fully completed by the end of the week.

Not sure if there are any other brokers that you could transfer out to or if Barcs can sell for you?

The half in my share dealing account anyway, my other half is yet to appear in my ISA

Mine has just appeared. Finally :D

Just spoken to them again now and was told that nobody should have said that the process takes 2-3 weeks as the corporate actions team have stated that the DEMAT process actually takes 4-8 weeks.

This would take us up to the 10th August. Considering making a complaint to the financial ombudsmen but not sure whether it'll just be a waste of time and increase my stress levels.

The most frustrating thing about IG is how they claim to be chasing every day but yet have no real update from the custodian since the 14th June. How can you possibly chase for this long and get no reply? Surely they can give us that the DEMAT process was started on XX date and is currently X weeks in and how much work is left to do.

That's more reassuring Hardy as that very much aligns with the update I had which is hopefully the real situation. Hopefully the person that Knicol has managed to speak to just doesn't know what they're talking about.

Seems like no one really knows what is going on as that is at odds with my update from yesterday that they had started the dematerialisation process last week. Very frustrating!

Further update from IG today suggesting that we're hopefully not too far away: "The registrars of Newfield (based in Aus) sent physical certificate of the shares (Rematerialize) to IG's custodian's office in Ireland rather than Australia. IG's custodian got them but need to send them back to Australia office to have certificates dematerialized (DEMAT). Currently, we are waiting for it to be dematerialized and then we will allocate the shares onto eligible clients' accounts." When I asked how long the demat process usually takes and when it had started I was told that the process began last week and generally takes a few weeks. I then said "So, I can reasonably expect my shares to be allocated by the end of June?" and got the reply "Yes, hopefully".

Something tells me you won't get very far with that as they are claiming no responsibility in the delay. Unfortunately I think we are just at their mercy and we're just going to have to wait it out and keep our fingers crossed that the SP goes in the right direction. Very unfair but I can't see any other outcome.

Yep, not defending them in any way, whole thing sounds like a farce. How we are struggling for so long to rectify a problem as simple as this I don't know!

Could be wrong but think the IG office is in Melbourne rather than Sydney.

Put my complaint in a few weeks back. How they can just absolve themselves of all responsibility when other brokers have issued their shares weeks ago I don't know.

Sounds like nonsense to be honest and totally different to the story that I was told about having an uneven number of shares etc. When I last chased about compensation to holders IG said that there wouldn't be any as the delay is not their fault. If the below is true then I would beg to differ.

I've also just been in contact with them and pushed them on exactly what the problem was and they said: "They've told me that it's a manual process and they effectively have to convert the shares into paper form, transfer these shares to an Australian broker and then get these converted into a digital share and get that transferred back to our custodian account"

Just been in contact with IG and have received the below update which I guess is progress on 'we're chasing it' : "The most recent update we received is that we have received uneven amount of shares from our custodian. So, our team is working on it to receive the full amount of shares so that we can allot accordingly" Hopefully now they have sent the shares (some of them) to IG then this hopefully won't take too much longer to resolve. At lease it's proof of some contact between the two parties.

I guess the other positive of this wait is that the currency rate has improved a fair bit in our favour since the start of May.

But remember they understand your situation and are continuously chasing from the highest level so you can expect to receive an update at the earliest! Just not sure if it's the earliest day, week, month or year so unfortunately can't give you a timeframe. I pushed them on compensation to holders yesterday and they said they have a team considering it. It's lucky I don't need access to my funds in a hurry!

Nice one Hardy. I'll have another go at them tomorrow to see if we can get any further. Hopefully we are not too far away now!

It would be a logical reason but a pathetic one, email exists and IG also have an office over in Melbourne so time differences really aren't any kind of excuse here.

Sounds like almost verbatim the lip service that I've been fed every time. I don't understand how you can be "continuously chasing" someone for something for over two weeks (since the first time they used that exact wording to me in an email) and still not have any results.