Brokerage/platforms terrible in Oz

[RichKid]

a little negative feedback and this thread goes quiet!
still waiting for that transfer of stocks, now 57 days!

Hi oldpos
Maybe you could call up Fortis and try to speak to the guy who's responsible, that way you may be able to figure out where the delay is....could be your Aussie broker if it isn't Fortis.

 

[oldpos]

Hi oldpos
Maybe you could call up Fortis and try to speak to the guy who's responsible, that way you may be able to figure out where the delay is....could be your Aussie broker if it isn't Fortis.

No, My patience is running out! I have done the right thing and dealt via IB, If it is my Auusie broker, which I doubt considering the crazy requests I have received lately, it is only reasonable to receive feedback from IB. To make enquiries elsewhere I think would confuse IB even further. All recent queries with IB only brings about a response like, "sorry, we are working on it."

Actually 117 days have now passed since I made my first application! The earlier figure I supplied was the date I became frustrated and from where I started recording the days.

It appears that "Brokerage/platforms terrible in Oz" still applies.

 

[RichKid]

No, My patience is running out! I have done the right thing and dealt via IB, If it is my Auusie broker, which I doubt considering the crazy requests I have received lately, it is only reasonable to receive feedback from IB. To make enquiries elsewhere I think would confuse IB even further. All recent queries with IB only brings about a response like, "sorry, we are working on it."

Actually 117 days have now passed since I made my first application! The earlier figure I supplied was the date I became frustrated and from where I started recording the days.

It appears that "Brokerage/platforms terrible in Oz" still applies.

Yikes oldpos! I'd have popped a few veins by now if that had been the case....I'm very sorry to hear of your experience, you deserve a full and frank explanation...I'd certainly be interested in hearing of what went wrong. (Maybe they've just lost the paperwork or need more info? do IB have an investigating officer or dept for client complaints?).

 

[Trembling Hand]

Here is something that is really crapping me off. IB charge for live ASX data. That's fine but they only include the stock data they won't turn on the indices. You can't even get a price for the All Ords!!

I have to go to esignal and pay big time just to get two quotes (XAO & XJO)

How bloody stupid is that. Its like yeah come and use us. We are great. We provide every exotic market and instrument you will ever need just not the main market indicator of your main market. But oh yeah we will charge you for it.

 

[oldpos]

Yikes oldpos! I'd have popped a few veins by now if that had been the case....I'm very sorry to hear of your experience, you deserve a full and frank explanation...I'd certainly be interested in hearing of what went wrong. (Maybe they've just lost the paperwork or need more info? do IB have an investigating officer or dept for client complaints?).

hoorrah, Told IB I was about to close my account but somehow the transfer was effected (on the 119th day I believe) Seems as though someone was listening after all. Still don't know what the issue was but from where I stand it appears to me that IB staff need to brush up on Aussie procedures and learn a bit more about CHESS.

 

[RichKid]

hoorrah, Told IB I was about to close my account but somehow the transfer was effected (on the 119th day I believe) Seems as though someone was listening after all. Still don't know what the issue was but from where I stand it appears to me that IB staff need to brush up on Aussie procedures and learn a bit more about CHESS.

Congrats!! Your last sentence gets right to the point going by my experience, they want to help when you press them but don't seem to know our market mechanics and regulations that well- so those middle managers have to start brushing up on training and educating their underlings.

Still a lot of silence from Steve about calculating franking credits. If IB receive our divs and can do the needful for share consolidations/splits etc then franking credits should be a breeze as it is calculated independently of the shareholder's particular tax profile. It's something that is part of the service when you sign up to a normal Aussie broker via CHESS. Each company's div payment and franking credit payment to me, with franking percentage, is delivered by mail to shareholders per company.....an electronic equivalent would be fine on IB's online ac...shouldn't be too hard for IB to create a reporting template for franking cr's as they would (presumably) for divs.

Div season is just around the corner so time is running out, customers might really pull their hair out if it becomes too much drama. I would consider it a business risk worth addressing to increase client take up and to encourage more trading via IB.

 

[Steve-IB]

Sorry, markets are volatile and I haven't had time to visit this site. To address the recent issues.

Transfer of Assets into IB.
If we receive a transfer-in request from a customer then we submit the instructions into CHESS within 24-48 hours. If the delivering broker does not respond to the instructions in place then the transfer will not take effect. Similarly if there is a mis-match in instructions, for example you have told us that there are 1,000 shares, but there are actually 1,001 the transfer will usually not take place (this is important to note, if you are still actively trading in the account that you are tyring to transfer). If the delivering broker claims that they cannot see our instructions, then provide our CS desk with the name and contact details of this person. We will call them to fix the transfer.

Franking Credits.
Elbee had this correct. IB does not deprive you of your franking credits. As the beneficial owner of the shares you are still entitled to the credits. However franking credits are not cash items and will not be credited to your IB account (unlike the dividends themselves). This means that you will need to calculate the credit yourself. Elbee mentioned sites such as www.incomeinvestor.com.au that keep records of all dividends and franking credits paid by ASX companies. We are programming a franking credit report, however, I doubt that it will be ready in time for this year.

RichKid – we knew about this issue before the launch, however, waiting for the programming of this would delay the launch by a significant amount of time. This is an issue which only affects a small minority of our customers, and thus, we decided to launch with the execution platform, and then add the extras later. Nevertheless, please send me any CHESS or franking statement samples that you may have as examples, and I can incorporate ideas into ours so that we can deliver a format that is familiar to you.

ASX Index
Will add data shortly. Will add XJO options also.

 

[oldpos]

Sorry, markets are volatile and I haven't had time to visit this site. To address the recent issues.

Transfer of Assets into IB.
If we receive a transfer-in request from a customer then we submit the instructions into CHESS within 24-48 hours. If the delivering broker does not respond to the instructions in place then the transfer will not take effect. Similarly if there is a mis-match in instructions, for example you have told us that there are 1,000 shares, but there are actually 1,001 the transfer will usually not take place (this is important to note, if you are still actively trading in the account that you are tyring to transfer). If the delivering broker claims that they cannot see our instructions, then provide our CS desk with the name and contact details of this person. We will call them to fix the transfer.

For what its worth, I wasn't operating my old trading account when I made the transfer application, I supplied the correct details to both IB and CommSec. IB requested me to supply a CommSec contact person when things went wrong but CommSec wasn't interested as they deal only with CHESS. IB made all apologies claiming that there was a communication breakdown with their 'back office staff' but didn't give any explanation other than that. I would have thought that if it was CommSec holding things up, IB could have gained this fact from CHESS and reported it to me instead of leaving me in the dark.
Anyhow, that is all in the past, I just hope things improve from here on. I certainly like IB's platform, it just seems that their customer relations are letting them down. Otherwise everything else has been great and Steve has been a great help to everyone on this panel. Much appreciated with that, Steve.

oldpos

 

[Bill M]

After reading all the problems over the last few pages I don't want to go anywhere near this company IB. Just too many problems, problem after problem after problem. To be quite honest I wouldn't even jump ship if they gave me free trades. Volatility of markets is no excuse for bad service and 119 days to transfer CHESS holdings? I have never ever had a broker in OZ do this to me, sorry but no thanks.

 

[dutchie]

Does anyone trade US & Oz market using IB?

Cheers

Dutchie

 

[Trembling Hand]

Does anyone trade US & Oz market using IB?

Cheers

Dutchie

Lots, Is this a poll or have you a question?

 

[dutchie]

Sorry about the vagueness of last post.

If you do - what are the mechanics of trading in $US?

Cheers

Dutchie

 

[ROE]

Interactive Brokers?

Anyone use Interactive Broker and recommend them?
and do I need to deposit the cash into their trading account or Can I use
external bank account for settlement?

 

[nomore4s]

Re: Interactive broker?

<edit- merged with IB thread> Roe, there is a whole thread dedicated to these questions here, or you could send Steve from IB (Steve-IB) a PM or email

 

[ROE]

Doh I was hoping to join IB but after reading these problem I think I look for another broker in the mean time and park this one and come back in a couple of years

 

[Trembling Hand]

Sorry about the vagueness of last post.

If you do - what are the mechanics of trading in $US?

Cheers

Dutchie

You hit the buy or sell button.

Doh I was hoping to join IB but after reading these problem I think I look for another broker in the mean time and park this one and come back in a couple of years

If you trade lots over different markets there is probably not a better system out there than IB. If you are dabbling in a few shares on the ASX then there is probably simpler brokers to use.

 

[Sir Burr]

Re: Interactive Brokers?

Anyone use Interactive Broker and recommend them?
and do I need to deposit the cash into their trading account or Can I use
external bank account for settlement?

Deposit the cash into their trading account only.

 

[RichKid]

Doh I was hoping to join IB but after reading these problem I think I look for another broker in the mean time and park this one and come back in a couple of years

Hi Roe

I am a bit annoyed that known issues aren't made clearer at the outset (eg franking cr reports) so that potential customers are able to properly assess the suitability of IB but I'd say that it's still worth keeping an eye on things on a monthly basis to see how far they have got with improvements.

The major issues appear to be with ac opening delays (eg stock transfers from existing brokers) and the absence of the normal Australian CHESS system (which also creates problems with tracking dividend imputation/franking credits as easily as through a CHESS participant).

There are also some other issues as discussed above but I'd keep IB on my shortlist for now, especially as Steve-IB is proving to be very helpful and genuinely interested in improving the customer experience.

 

[elbee]

As a customer over many years with a number of brokerage firms both in Australia and overseas let me try to give an unbiased assessment of using IB for Australian equity trading.

IB's business model is aimed at experienced traders trading in volume, or in multiple products and/or multiple markets or using automated trading systems. It is a "one platform does all" solution that necessarily has some complexity to it.

If you are a part-time investor trading only in Australian equities and without a thorough understanding of market operations then IB is definitely NOT the broker to use. You will be better served using an Australian broker whose main focus is the local retail client.

 

[yonnie]

hello folks,

wonder if somebody could help me out.

I am a penny trader with IB and I would like to place set and forget orders.

So what I would like to do is in the following example:

buy 500,000 XYZ shares at 1.5 cents
attach a limit sell order to sell those shares at 1.7 cents
attach a limit sell order to sell those shares at 1.5 cents if a trade goes through at 1.4

I attached a bracket order, but the shares will be placed at 1.5 cents if the quotes are 1.4-1.5, even if no trades took place at 1.4 cents.

So I only want to sell at 1.5 cents if a trade takes place at 1.4 cents.

What kind of order can I attach to the buy order to achieve this?

I asked customer service, but they dont seem to know for sure.

Anybody can help me out?

thanks.