Security of your assets
Brewin Dolphin Ltd uses nominee companies to register and administer holdings on our clients’ behalf. All of these nominee companies are separate legal entities from Brewin Dolphin and do not trade. They either hold clients’ assets in individually designated accounts within the nominee name, or the assets are pooled with those of other clients, meaning that customer entitlements may not be identifiable by separate certificates or other physical documents of title or electronic record. However, the nominee companies only take legal title to the assets – our clients retain the beneficial ownership.
Clients’ assets that are registered with nominee companies are held in trust and are not regarded by third parties as belonging to Brewin Dolphin. In the extremely unlikely event that Brewin Dolphin defaults, clients’ assets would remain entirely separate from those of the firm and could not be used to settle any debts accrued by the firm.
Both Brewin Dolphin and our nominee companies are regulated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA). In line with FSA requirements, we reconcile all clients’ holdings at least once every month for dematerialised stock and every six months for certificated stock. Furthermore, all holdings must be confirmed with their beneficial owners on an annual basis.
Where assets are held with a sub-custodian, such as with overseas securities, we are required to reconcile these holdings at least once every 25 business days. In these cases, stock is normally held in a nominee name and is legally separate from the sub-custodian’s own assets. As stated in our Terms and Conditions, we are committed to exercising due skill, care and diligence in the selection, appointment and periodic review of any third party custodian.
As an additional safeguard, all of our nominee companies are regularly audited by Deloitte and comply with the Audit Assurance Faculty (formerly FRAG21). Brewin Dolphin also adheres to the FSA financial stability regulations under the Capital Requirements Directive which requires that we maintain a minimum level of financial resources at all times.
Brewin Dolphin has taken great care to ensure the quality of its insurance provision. As a result, we have specialist cover in place that will protect us and our clients in the event of fraud, misappropriation or theft to any client’s assets in our custody and control, including both cash and securities. As a further safeguard we have also considered adequacy and purchased appropriate cover.
Please refer to the ‘Client Money held by Brewin Dolphin’ leaflet or contact us if you have any further questions.