Not upheld: failure to assign entitlement/failure to pay shareholder distribution complaint against Halifax Share Dealing Limited

Decision detail

Summary

Mr P complained that Halifax Share Dealing Limited failed to assign him an entitlement from his shareholding in company M held within an ISA. Halifax explained that M entered liquidation in 2022, making the shares illiquid and unable to be traded, and was subsequently dissolved in 2025 with no funds received for shareholders. The ombudsman found no evidence supporting Mr P's claim of a transaction or that Halifax was holding any money due to him. With publicly available information confirming M's equity was completely erased and no distributions planned, the ombudsman upheld Halifax's treatment of the matter and did not uphold the complaint.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that since M entered liquidation in 2022, trading of its shares via Halifax's platform was impossible. No evidence supported that Mr P participated in the transaction he described. Publicly available information confirmed M's equity was completely erased with no shareholder distributions planned. Halifax provided evidence of communicating with Mr P about the situation and there was no evidence Halifax was holding any money due to Mr P. Therefore, Halifax treated Mr P fairly and had not failed in its obligations.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website