You may have collected several pension pots or ISAs over time that can be hard to keep track of and manage. Transferring your investments and consolidating your investment portfolio in one place could be beneficial for you and your intermediary, if you have one, to help manage your investments more easily.

Transferring could give you: 

  • a consolidated view of your investments – all on one statement;
  • easy access to online portfolio valuations;
  • the ability to view and track performance of your investments and make changes to your portfolio if you need to;
  • easy switching between funds, and
  • access to portfolio planning and analysis tools to help your intermediary, if you have one, keep track of your investments.

Things to think about before you make a decision

You should be comfortable with the investment choices that you make as you may lose features, protections, guarantees or other benefits when you transfer. If you’re not sure, you should get financial advice - there may be a charge for this.

A transfer for consolidation purposes could be from one capital at risk stocks and shares ISA, general investment account (GIA) or pension product to another – so the value of your investments after any consolidation can still fall as well as rise and you may get back less than you invest.

Alternatively, the transfer could be from a cash ISA to our stocks and shares ISA. In this scenario you need to be aware that you’re transferring between two very different products.

Unlike money held on deposit as it is in a cash ISA, your money in a stocks and shares ISA is at risk; its value could fall as well as rise and you could get back less than you put in – so although our stocks and shares ISA has no fixed term, you should be prepared to hold your investment for at least five years – ideally longer.

Any new funds you move your money into will have their own set of risks that will be detailed in the fund information that will be available to you.

Guide to transfers

Transferring an ISA

Re-registration

Re-registration lets you move the administration of your investment in a fund(s) from one provider to another without the need to sell your stake in the fund(s). 

This allows you to avoid any fund charges that may apply if you sell and buy new funds. It also means you will remain invested in the market your investment will gain, or lose, from any market movement. The management of the fund also doesn't change.

To be able to re-register funds to us, the funds and share classes have to be available on our platform.  If they aren’t, and you still want to move your investment(s) to us, you can transfer to a new fund(s).

We’re not able to accept the re-registration of commission-included share classes. If you want to transfer monies invested in commission-included share classes, you’ll need to sell those investments and transfer the proceeds as cash. Or convert the commission-included share classes into a commission-free share class before re-registration.

Your intermediary, if you have one, will be able to help you re-register funds.

Cash transfer

If you want to invest in different funds than you’re currently invested in, or the funds you’re currently invested in aren’t available to re-register onto our platform, you can transfer your existing ISA to us as cash. We'll invest any ISA you transfer to us into a stocks and shares ISA. If you transfer you’ll be out of the market while the transfer takes place. You won’t benefit from any potential returns whilst a transfer is pending.

Your current ISA manager will sell your investment and transfer the resulting value to us to invest.  Your intermediary, if you have one, should be able to do this for you.

Can I transfer all my ISAs?

You can transfer any existing ISAs you hold with another company to us. We’ll invest any ISA you transfer to us into a stocks and shares ISA.

You can transfer ISAs from previous tax years in full or in part and it won’t affect this year’s ISA allowance. If you’re transferring an ISA that holds current tax year contributions, you must transfer that amount in full.

Will transferring affect this year’s ISA allowance, and do you lose the tax benefits when you transfer it?

Transferring won’t affect this year's ISA allowance, or the tax benefits.

Are there any fees for transferring?

We don’t charge a transfer fee for transferring to or away from us, but other providers might.

Can I transfer my ISA to another provider?

You can transfer into other ISA products with another provider. Depending on your instruction and the funds available through your new ISA manager, we can either re-register your existing investment to them, or sell the funds held within your investment with us and transfer the cash value to them. 

Transferring a GIA

You can transfer funds held in a GIA somewhere else to us.  If the funds you hold elsewhere are available through us they can simply be re-registered as we explain above. This means you don’t need to sell your funds before moving them over to us, so they’ll stay in the market.

If your existing funds aren’t available through us you’d need to sell that investment and use the value to invest with us. If you transfer you’ll be out of the market while the transfer takes place. You won’t benefit from any potential returns whilst a transfer is pending.

Your existing provider may charge an exit fee.

You can also transfer between products by moving funds from your GIA to an existing ISA or to a new ISA with ourselves. This offers the option to maximise your tax free ISA allowance if you haven't already reached your contribution limit.

Can I transfer to another provider?

You can transfer funds held with us to another provider and re-register funds off the platform if the new provider offers the same funds. You should check with the provider you’re planning to move to on what funds they have available for you.

Transferring a pension

We’ll accept transfers from a range of pension plans, including personal pensions and some workplace schemes.

Transfers from defined benefit (such as final salary) schemes are only allowed if they’re carried out by an appropriately qualified financial adviser and they recommended that you transfer the policy.

Can I transfer to another provider?

You can transfer the value of your plan to another registered pension scheme or in certain circumstances to an overseas scheme at any time.