Which platform to use

[Hamster]

Right, so the guys over at the Share Forum can't help me (*gives stern look at Patrick*) so I'm hoping someone here can. Same question:

So for the last year or so I have been pumping some money into FNB's Share Saver and it has grown nicely. Thing is that I want to diversify my portfolio and buy into other ETFs (like the DBXWD) which brings me to a platform problem.

I know about ETFSA but since I took part in the Easy Equities investor challenge I'm sort off already registered and FICA'ed. As far as I understand their jargon, the moment I own a complete share on their platform it is registered/recorded against my person on some register of the FSB...or something like that. So basically I own it even if that platform tanks, right?

Since I have access to almost everything on EasyEquities, would you guys consider it a good platform to do long term investing on?

Second question: since I own RMB TOP40 shares via FNB, will those show up on other platforms or do you have to transfer it somehow? And if that is the case what will happen if I buy the same shares on two different platforms, how will they be reconciled?

 

[Hamster]

*bump*

 

[Hamster]

OK, I even sent a mail to Easy Equities. No response from them either. Sounds like I'm the first person ever to ask these questions.

 

[Jet-Fighter7700]

OK, I even sent a mail to Easy Equities. No response from them either. Sounds like I'm the first person ever to ask these questions.

been wondering about that myself, also with a sharesaver account from FNB,
I dont think its actually transferable as the banks will lose a client and they dont want to do that,

probably youd have to close your shavesaver account and transfer your cash to a proper share trading account, don't think its transferable.

 

[Hamster]

been wondering about that myself, also with a sharesaver account from FNB,
I dont think its actually transferable as the banks will lose a client and they dont want to do that,

probably youd have to close your shavesaver account and transfer your cash to a proper share trading account, don't think its transferable.

Well that's the thing, I can understand if it won't show up on different platforms BUT since you own those shares and only use FNB/Whoever to trade them you should be able to transfer them (I'm assuming there would be some sort of cost involved in this). Similar to switching home loans in my mind.

All I want is somebody to confirm this/the process.

 

[Jet-Fighter7700]

Well that's the thing, I can understand if it won't show up on different platforms BUT since you own those shares and only use FNB/Whoever to trade them you should be able to transfer them (I'm assuming there would be some sort of cost involved in this). Similar to switching home loans in my mind.

All I want is somebody to confirm this/the process.

like I said, its not the same FNB gives you the appearance of owning real shares, in actual fact you own "virtual shares" that are only worth anything on their platform
sounds like a marketing gimmick, like so many others, thy dont want clients realizing their cash is actually worth more that FNB says it is.....
and they want the cash in their own accounts that way they control it.

maybe somebody who got some knowledge can help us newbs with this

 

[LostGoat]

I cannot speak for how FNB works with the virtual shares but if you own the actual shares for a fee you can transfer them between platforms.

I was also thinking about easy equities as their costs are lower then the platform that I am currently using.
The partial share part scared me as you cannot buy a partial share. I need to find out how it works but I would then assume easy equities is sitting in the middle and setting the price?

Easy equities is also owned buy global trader. When I asked someone about them they directed me to a Noseweek article that did not speak highly of them.
http://www.noseweek.co.za/article/3016/Rough-Trade
It is a subscription article so unfortunately I have been unable to read the whole article yet.
They also mentioned how clients in global trader Europe lost their money. http://www.moneyweb.co.za/moneyweb-financial/global-trader-europe-in-trouble

I do not currently have enough information to know if they are a safe to invest in but I would not invest in them without doing extensive research. I would be happy to change them if the shares are held in my name and in no way tied to easy equities and easy equities are not manipulating the prices (normally you say how much you want to pay per share. With them you say how much you want to invest)

 

[HavocXphere]

I'm a little bit wary of anything short of actual shares as you are not an outright shareholder of the underlying company. EFTs are essentially the same, but I've got a bit more confidence in Satrix tbh. Its not dodgy in a fundamental way...I just don't like that extra level of "virtualization" so to speak....think of it as "closer to the metal" i.t.o. IT. Plus I can't predict the legal outcome if something goes sideways.

I know about ETFSA but since I took part in the Easy Equities investor challenge I'm sort off already registered and FICA'ed. As far as I understand their jargon, the moment I own a complete share on their platform it is registered/recorded against my person on some register of the FSB...or something like that.

Sounds good, though I'm a little skeptical of the 1 share part...doesn't sound very feasible in terms of costs.

Second question: since I own RMB TOP40 shares via FNB, will those show up on other platforms or do you have to transfer it somehow? And if that is the case what will happen if I buy the same shares on two different platforms, how will they be reconciled?

Both should be registered with STRATE (the central authority of this), but the platforms will be mutually blind.

Don't have any actual experience with these, so more of a theoretical answer...

 

[Hamster]

Sounds good, though I'm a little skeptical of the 1 share part...doesn't sound very feasible in terms of costs.

I was merely talking of one share to get my point across

Thanks for feedback though. I'm not really interested in moving my stuff away from FNB, I'm more interested in what happens when if I realise Easy Equities isn't doing it for me and want to move to ETFSA for example (seriously, one of the big reasons I'm not going to ETFSA is the same reason I didn;t go to SATRIX - paperwork seems daunting). Somehow the paperwork for Easy Equities was very easy.

 

[surface]

Second question: since I own RMB TOP40 shares via FNB, will those show up on other platforms or do you have to transfer it somehow? And if that is the case what will happen if I buy the same shares on two different platforms, how will they be reconciled?

If you own RMB40 ETF's, they don't show up on other platforms like satrix and etfsa. And I will be extremely surprised if you could transfer these ETF's across platforms at this point of time, but interesting question.

 

[Freaksta]

I am really interested in easy equities but the thing that puts me off is you can say the max price you are willing to pay, thus although there fees are great they could be making more money by not getting you the best price...

 

[Hamster]

Reply from Easy Equities (pretty much what I thought)

Please note that your current shares *will not reflect on your Easy Equities account however you can transfer them to our platform.

*

If you decide to transfer your Account to another financial institution, you may only do so by providing written instructions to transfer your Account to another FSP.* A transfer may only be made to an Account in your name with another FSP in accordance with the provisions of Applicable Law.
A brokerage fee may be charged for the transfer of Whole Securities to another FSP, as set out in the Cost Profile.
Only Whole Securities may be transferred.* You will be responsible for the payment of any taxes, costs or expenses in respect of Whole Securities transferred to another FSP or its nominee.

So basically you pay a transfer fee. Guess you'll have to cash out the partial share since that is an Easy Equities product until a whole unit is acquired.

 

[Hamster]

*double post*

 

[HavocXphere]

I was merely talking of one share to get my point across

You miss my point. Regardless of your scenario, any offer to transfer a single share seems mighty dubious to me. Taxes & STRATE fees alone will bury any commercial viability on small transfers. Thats why I'm skeptical [*]. Not saying this company is dodgy, but I'm not going to invest time/money into something where my first instinct is "nope".

If you've got the financial capacity to purchase whole shares then wth are you dealing with this Random Platform (TM) fractional mess anyway? Go buy some satrix/RMB40/actual shares...

oh and you can buy DBX etc from most share platforms.

* I can think of a few schemes to get around this, but frankly why take a complicated scheme with limited transparency when you can buy the real deal.

 

[Hamster]

You miss my point. Regardless of your scenario, any offer to transfer a single share seems mighty dubious to me. Taxes & STRATE fees alone will bury any commercial viability on small transfers. Thats why I'm skeptical. Not saying this company is dodgy, but I'm not going to invest time/money into something where my first instinct is "nope".

If you've got the financial capacity to purchase whole shares then wth are you dealing with this Random Platform (TM) fractional mess anyway? Go buy some satrix/RMB40/actual shares...

oh and you can buy DBX etc from most share platforms.

I'm already buying RMB. The reason I'm looking at this platform is because unlike some of the others there was no paperwork mess. Everything was online and anything I needed to send them was handled in hours. Was just easy...

Now, I really don't get what you are saying about single share. Who is buying or transferring a single share between platforms? If I do use their platform I'd go with R5k lump sum trades.

 

[HavocXphere]

Now, I really don't get what you are saying about single share. Who is buying or transferring a single share between platforms? If I do use their platform I'd go with R5k lump sum trades.

This part

>>the moment I own a complete share on their platform it is registered/recorded against my person on some register of the FSB.

Presumably you got that from their sales brochure/whatever. I don't like salesmen making me promises that don't sound commercially viable to me. "A complete share" is not going to be commercially viable....at all. Understand that this is more of a "I don't like it" objection rather than "this is wrong".

>>The reason I'm looking at this platform is because unlike some of the others there was no paperwork mess.

Look for a better platform then. My "paperwork mess" consisted of ticking a single box to say I want share trading activated along with my bank account. Actually no...think I had to specify an initial transfer amount to the share trading account too.

 

[Hamster]

This part

>>the moment I own a complete share on their platform it is registered/recorded against my person on some register of the FSB.

Presumably you got that from their sales brochure/whatever. I don't like salesmen making me promises that don't sound commercially viable to me. "A complete share" is not going to be commercially viable....at all. Understand that this is more of a "I don't like it" objection rather than "this is wrong".

>>The reason I'm looking at this platform is because unlike some of the others there was no paperwork mess.

Look for a better platform then. My "paperwork mess" consisted of ticking a single box to say I want share trading activated along with my bank account. Actually no...think I had to specify an initial transfer amount to the share trading account too.

I'm not interested in ticking a tick box with FNB or STD Bank (I work on the OST project if it casts more light on the subject). I'm going to give these guys a try...worst case scenario is I lose some "play" money.

Now, if a share costs R21 and I trade R5000 I end up with 238 complete shares and 1 partial share/CFD. I'm not a fan of the idea but one partial share, even if you forfeit it, can't really do much damage in the bar d scheme of things.

 

[HavocXphere]

hehe...we're clearly seeing this from two very different perspectives.

Either way...no "obvious" risks in sight so go for it if you like the setup.

 

[Hamster]

hehe...we're clearly seeing this from two very different perspectives.

Either way...no "obvious" risks in sight so go for it if you like the setup.

We'll see. If you see a thread called "Avoid EasyEquities" you have the right to say I told you so.

BUT, now we wait for 15 Oct

 

[czc]

Look for a better platform then. My "paperwork mess" consisted of ticking a single box to say I want share trading activated along with my bank account. Actually no...think I had to specify an initial transfer amount to the share trading account too.

So what is your platform then, if you feel like disclosing that.