Not upheld: ISA / savings administration complaint against Artemis Fund Managers Limited

Decision detail

Summary

Mr C held a stocks and shares ISA with Artemis since 2007. When attempting to transfer his ISA to a new platform in March 2021, he discovered the new provider could not accept most of his share classes. Frustrated with the delay, Mr C went online and completed a sale and withdrawal instruction, intending to sell assets to cash while keeping the proceeds within the ISA wrapper to facilitate the transfer. Artemis subsequently sent Mr C a cheque for approximately £177,000 in sale proceeds, which had been removed from the ISA wrapper. Mr C complained that Artemis' website was unclear and misleading, as it did not warn him that his actions would remove the funds from the ISA wrapper. The ombudsman found that Artemis' website clearly indicated that selecting 'Withdraw' and 'Sell' would result in cash proceeds being removed from the ISA, and that there was nothing on the website that would have reasonably prompted Mr C to believe otherwise. The complaint was not upheld.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that Artemis' website used clear language with the terms 'sell' and 'withdraw' having their natural meaning. The portal made it clear that Mr C would be selling shares and withdrawing cash proceeds. There was nothing on the website that would have prompted Mr C to think his withdrawal instructions had any meaning other than their literal meaning or that funds would remain within the ISA wrapper. The fact that Artemis does not offer the facility to hold cash within a stocks and shares ISA, and that it did not hold Mr C's bank details, were not sufficient reasons to conclude the sale proceeds would remain in the ISA wrapper. Artemis acted on Mr C's clear instructions and was entitled to do so.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website