Halifax went under external administration

I wonder if that means Lloyds is in trouble too?

 

Is this serious?

Halifax as in the bank in the UK, right?

If they're in trouble then that's rather serious to say the least. Australian equivalent would be saying CBA or Westpac just went bust. Serious news and likely the sign of big trouble ahead if correct.

Or is this a different "Halifax" not the same company?

 

The company that is in external administration is Halifax Investment Services, not Halifax the UK based banking company.

 

Perhaps not the most ideal comparison, on account of the size and complexity, of MF Global's operation/s and associated predicaments, but the following post, contains some prudent advice, about the drafting of a simple letter of demand to the administrators, and issuing copies of it (in accompaniment with account details and copies of most recent statement/s) via both mail and email:

 

Halifax Investment Services. Make a careful note of those who ran this set up and anyone who worked for them.

https://www.financemagnates.com/forex/brokers/exclusive-halifax-investment-services-has-gone-bust/

"Sydney-based Halifax Investment Services is a subsidiary of Lloyds Banking Group. Its CEO is one Andrew Baxter. According to his LinkedIn profile, Baxter is also the CEO of two other entities – Australian Investment Education, which offers trading courses, and Grange Capital Management, a “Boutique Investment Manager” which doesn’t appear to have a website".

 

So Halifax Investment management has collapsed. 12,000 clients affected. So far unknown amount of client funds lost.

Anyone know anymore ? Any likely knock on effects ?
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/bu...m-thousands-of-investors-20190111-p50qr8.html

 

Noel Edmonds likely to file £60m Lloyds lawsuit on Wednesday
https://www.theguardian.com/busines...ikely-to-file-60m-lloyds-lawsuit-on-wednesday
TV star, expected to join I’m a Celebrity this week, says gains will fund charity to help banking victims
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HBOS plc is a banking and insurance company in the United Kingdom, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Lloyds Banking Group, having been taken over in January 2009. ... Although officially HBOS is not an acronym of any specific words, it is widely presumed to stand for Halifax Bank of Scotland.
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HBOS plc is a banking and insurance company in the United Kingdom, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Lloyds Banking Group, having been taken over in January 2009. It is the holding company for Bank of Scotland plc, which operates the Bank of Scotland and Halifax brands in the UK, as well as HBOS Australia and HBOS Insurance & Investment Group Limited, the group's insurance division.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HBOS
---
Noel Ernest Edmonds (born 22 December 1948) is an English television presenter and executive producer. Edmonds first became known as a disc jockey on BBC Radio 1 in the UK, and has presented light entertainment television programmes for more than forty years. Originally working for the BBC, these have included Multi-Coloured Swap Shop, Top of the Pops, The Late, Late Breakfast Show and Telly Addicts. From 2005–2016, he presented the Channel 4 game show Deal or No Deal.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noel_Edmonds
In June 2017, Edmonds said he attempted suicide in 2005 after fraud by a group of HBOS financiers destroyed his Unique Group business: "Until these criminals took me to the brink of emotional annihilation, I had always felt those who opt out by taking their own lives were selfish and cowardly... But having been cast into that bottomless dark space devoid of logic and reason, I have a much deeper understanding of life without hope... I seek no sympathy and feel no shame in admitting that on the evening of January 18th 2005 I attempted to end the overwhelming mental pain which had consumed my whole being."[73]

 

Update on lawsuit today

https://www.smh.com.au/business/ban...d-up-at-collapsed-broker-20190212-p50x9a.html

Nearly $60 million in customer money mixed up at collapsed broker

By Sarah Danckert
February 13, 2019 — 12.00am

Administrators picking through the wreckage of one of the country's largest online broking houses Halifax Investment Services, have found that $57 million in money invested by clients has been mixed up with funds belonging to the company.

Halifax collapsed before Christmas, freezing $210 million invested by its 12,000 plus clients as Ferrier Hodgson was brought in by the company to review its books and records.

The collapse is so large, administrators liken it to high profile stockbroker collapses including Opes Prime, BBY and Sonray. Ferrier Hodgson is also trying to pinpoint the amount of investor funds that has gone missing.

The administrators said they had located around $185 million of the $210 million of investor funds.

Ferrrier Hodgson partner Morgan Kelly said the administrators had recently increased their estimate, saying the shortfall of funds could top $25 million, compared to an earlier prediction that between $15 million and $20 million of investor money was gone.

Halifax's problems with having a shortfall of investor funds began at least two years ago, according to administrators.

"Investor funds have been co-mingled in such a way that the taint affects the claims of all investors on all three platforms in both the Australian and New Zealand businesses," Mr Kelly said.

"The process of allocating and tracing individual investor funds will likely be a complex and lengthy process."

The mixing of investments, or "co-mingling" of funds, can be a serious breach of companies law.

"We’re working closely with ASIC on all aspects of the investigation," Mr Kelly said.

Hallifax operated and offered three trading platforms -- Interactive Brokers, MetaTrader 4 and the MetaTrader 5 platforms. Interactive Brokers, which has a stockbroking licence, is a third party online trading platform that provides a white label product to Halifax.

The platforms allowed Halifax's clients to invest in a range of products and equities foreign exchange derivatives, equity derivatives and indexed contracts for difference.

The majority of the client funds lie with Interactive Brokers - with $110 million on the platform in Australia and a further $44 million in the platform in New Zealand. The remainder was invested in the MT4 and MT5 platforms.

“We have been considering strategies for the timely return of investor funds, the options are currently a Deed of Company Arrangement or placing Halifax into liquidation," Mr Kelly said.

Halifax's sole director at the time of its collapse was Gold Coast businessman Jeff Worboys. The group had offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland and the Gold Coast.

Only the Auckland and Sydney offices remain open.

Minutes of a meeting of committee of creditors reveal that it is unlikely Mr Worboys will propose a Deed of Company Arrangement (DOCA).

The administrators have also been in discussions with Andrew Gibbs, the director of Halifax's New Zealand arm, about a potential DOCA.

The corporate watchdog suspended the financial licence of Halifax in January after discussions with administrators. Investors will still be able close out their trades despite the suspension.

Halifax was the subject of an enforceable undertaking with ASIC in 2013 following regulatory action by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) over a slew of concerns about the operations of the business.

 

Copy cat Sonray collapse!
When are we going to learn and when is ASIC going to learn !
This once again shows by dealing in OTC as compared to Exchange* traded products we take on one more risk but average joey does not know that they see an AFSL and wording like Segregated accounts with Tier one Bank and they they thing such thing wont happen and even f it does we should be ok
I thought crooked brokers only leaved in Tel Aviv scamming people with their Binary options scams but apparently they are present down under also ..
Market risk is one thing and we as traders or investors can't complain about it , but this stupid Broker failure risk due to fraud and mismanagement Client Money safety

Here is a text from one of the ASIC regulated OTC broker

Nowhere it says that client becomes unsecured creditor of the company

In accordance with Australian client money rules, XYZ broker's client funds are held in segregated bank accounts with xxx bank in Australia, which is an Australian authorised deposit-taking institution, and held separately to XYZ's corporate/operational funds accounts. In the event that XYZ becomes insolvent, the client money account is taken to be subject to a trust in favor of each person who is entitled to be paid money from that account. The Australian client money rules mandate the orders that the client money should be paid out in the event of insolvency.

I wonder who is next? may be a certain FX broker who was shut down in USA by CFTC but still operates here!
Also does anybody know in case of BBY were the clients protected under AFG?

 

https://www.theage.com.au/business/...ge_busnews_am&instance=2019-03-13--19-44--UTC

$20 million missing: Broker's client money used to cover losses

Sarah Danckert

One of Australia's largest brokers, Halifax Investment Management, is set to head into liquidation after administrators discovered that some of the $210 million of client money was used to cover off losses on bad bets on investment products by other clients.

Investigations by administrators from Ferrier Hodgson have found that just under $20 million of customers' money is missing.

Ferrier Hodgson has likened the collapse of Halifax, which had 12,000 clients in Australia and New Zealand, to other high-profile stockbroker collapses in recent years including BBY, Sonray and Opes Prime.

Action against the company by the corporate regulator is a distinct possibility, with sources saying the Australian Securities and Investments Commission was taking a close interest in the outcome of the administration.

More than $190 million of client money remains frozen as the administrators seek court approval for distributing the money back to clients.

Given the "co-mingling" of client funds, this could see all customers of Halifax receiving less money than they had placed into their trading accounts, despite not being responsible for how their money was used by the company.

The missing money is equivalent to 9 per cent of the total customer funds held by Halifax ahead of its collapse. Halifax called in administrators just before Christmas, freezing customer funds.

Halifax's clients can still close out trades (i.e. sell shares in a particular entity, or close off a bet on the oil price falling, etc) but they are not able to recoup their funds.

Hallifax operated and offered three trading platforms - Interactive Brokers (IB), MetaTrader 4 (MT4) and the MetaTrader 5 (MT5) platforms. Interactive Brokers, which has a stockbroking licence, is a third party online trading platform that provides a white label product to Halifax.

The platforms allowed Halifax's clients to invest in a range of products and equities foreign exchange derivatives, equity derivatives and indexed contracts for difference.

Over the past three months, Ferrier Hodgson has reviewed more than 10,000 transactions.

"There appears to be extensive co-mingling of client monies," the administrators said on Wednesday.

"As a result, the funds invested by MT4 and MT5 investors may have been used to ‘top up’ the accounts of IB investors (and vice-versa). In simple terms, the monies of other investors may have been used to credit the IB platform.

"Our investigations indicate that while the IB platform may appear to be ‘whole’ in that it is fully funded, we have determined that investor funds may have been mixed or co-mingled in a way that affects the claims of all investors on all three platforms in both the Australian and New Zealand businesses."

Ferrier Hodgson said the only option for creditors now would be to place the company in liquidation after the administrators' attempts to salvage the company through a deed of company arrangement (DOCA).

"We have explored options for a potential DOCA at length, whereby investors agree to share the deficiency proportionally to expedite the distribution process," Ferrier Hodgson said.

"After careful legal consideration, it has been determined that a DOCA is not achievable," it added.

 

For those interested, Ferrier Hodgson updates concerning Halifax Investment Services can be found here:

https://www.ferrierhodgson.com/au/creditors/halifax-investment-services-pty-ltd

The Voluntary Administrators Report dated 12 March makes for interesting reading.