When dealing with transfers it's always good to prepare as much as you can to limit the risk of the transfer being rejected by the ceding provider. You can do this by delinking the account in question from any investment strategy which may cause changes to the client's holdings, removing any recurring payments and cancelling any direct debit mandates.
Please note, the following transfer types cannot be processed within the Adviser portal:
- Partially crystallised pension transfers and partial cash pension transfers (that have a manual ceding scheme)
Beneficiary drawdown cases
Pension sharing orders
Block transfers
In these cases, please complete a manual transfer form and email it to servicecentre@soderbergpartners.com.
- Go to the Adviser Portal and log in.
- Locate your client in the system, either via the Client tab in the top menu, or by using the Client Search function, and open their client record.
- Open the relevant Account and then click Account actions and Transfer.
- Select Cash as the transfer type. If it is a SIPP transfer, you will be asked to indicate whether it is a full or partial transfer. If it is a partial transfer, you can choose whether to transfer a specific amount ('withdraw' option) or you can express a specific amount which is to be left behind with the ceding provider ('remaining balance' option). N.B. if you are processing a partial SIPP transfer and the provider is one that requires a manual form, you will need to submit this via email instead of completing this online form. You can tell if the provider requires a manual form by selecting the provider name in the dropdown, at which point a message will appear onscreen.
- Next, enter the amount for the withdrawal.
- Choose the ceding provider from the drop down list, then enter the reference number. You will be given a hint beneath the reference number box to indicate the expected format for that particular provider, which can help where a provider has multiple arms:
The journey will guide you in terms of what is required for the submission - if nothing appears, then the provider accepts transfer requests electronically and no further action is required. If it is a provider which requires a wet signed manual form, a pop up will appear informing you of this. If it is a provider which needs a form, but it can be a scanned or digital signature, a different message will appear along with a file upload option - see below for how this works. Manual forms can be found here.
- At this stage, if the transfer is for a joint GIA, you will need to select the primary client. Please ensure this reflects the information that the ceding scheme holds.
- If the account is a SIPP, you will need to answer the question as to whether the pension being transferred contains Safeguarded Rights. If so, you need to enter your firm's FCA number.
- The address details of the client will be automatically populated in the transfer. It is very important that the address matches the one on file with the ceding provider, as this can cause delays.
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If the client has a default investment strategy in place, you will be asked if you would like the transfer to auto-invest. Selecting yes to this option means that the transfer will be invested into the investment strategy of the account as soon as the funds are on the platform, selecting no will mean the funds sit in the account as uninvested cash – you will be able to invest this manually after the transfer completes.
- You will then have the option to apply an initial fee, which is automatically deducted when the transfer lands prior to auto-investment. N.B. there is a 5% maximum limit.
- If the chosen provider is one that requests a signed form in order to accept the request, here you will need to upload the form - N.B. this must be a PDF). An onscreen message will confirm the type of signature required; either a scanned copy or digital signature.
- Once completed, click Review to double-check the information and then click Submit.
- The transfer is now registered and you can follow the transfer progress in the Transfer Workbench, which is accessed via the Transfers tab in the top menu. Electronic transfers will show a status of 'With previous provider'. Transfers requiring manual forms will show a status of 'Awaiting documentation' or 'Reviewing documentation'.
We will then submit the transfer request, electronically wherever possible. If the ceding scheme accepts they will return a valuation of the account and the status in the Transfer Workbench will update to Onboarding Assets. Once the cash has been allocated to the account the status is updated to Completed.
If the ceding provider rejects the transfer request, we will contact you with information about the reason for the rejection so that you can register a new request.
We will monitor all transfer requests closely and routinely chase ceding providers on your behalf. We chase the scheme via email every 5 working days and our transfers team will call the scheme towards the later stages of the transfer to ensure all is in order. We ask that you also attempt to chase on your client's behalf.