What if online broker disappears?

[anroy]

I've been investing in Monex for the past 5 years, a combination of index fund ETFs, some company stocks, and a Maxis Slim mutual fund. Also some JPY and USD cash in the account.

Completely hypothetical (for now, at least ), but what would I do if they went bankrupt, or offline for some reason or another?

Are there any famous cases of such a thing happening?

[Moneymatters]

Regarding bankrupcy, this isn't a Japan only, or even online only, concern and there are examples out there if you look. Some were mentioned on this board previously.

I think the general consensus is.
1. Cash assets up to the value of 10mil yen are protected.
You'd be reimbursed by Japan.
2. Your investments are held in your name. e.g. Shares or Mutual Fund units you hold.
I suspect there would need to be a process to move those to another brokerage.

Unraveling both of these would obviously take time so having all financial assets with one company is an unnecessary risk.
And I put salted butter on some toast last weekend so I know all about risk!

I'm not getting into the risk of them going offline, it can happen to any company but I think the longest outage would be a couple of days.

[beanhead]

Yamaichi

https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/disg ... e-1.130303

Sanyo

https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/b ... cy1104.htm

[adamu]

My conclusion from the last time this came up was:

The requirement to keep customer assets separate from company assets will probably mean you won't lose out in the long run if the broker goes bankrupt, but it'll likely to take years to sort things out, so it's sensible to spread assets across different brokers. In the event one goes down, you can get by with the functioning ones until the bankruptcy process is resolved.

The insurance scheme on assets only applies if for some reason the separation of customer and company assets went wrong. But retirement funds are likely to grow to more than the 10M per brokerage insurance, even if using multiple brokers. I'm not sure if this is a risk that's worth worrying about too much - if it is I don't know what the solution is. Private insurance policy?

[EmaxisSlim Cultist]

I think having a second taxable account, at another broker is sensible.

1. Risk mitigation (though the risk is minor)

2. More points through passive credit card investing. (.5% -1% back is nothing to sneeze at! Especially if reinvested in mutual funds over 25 years. There is usually a 5man limit per broker when it comes to CC investing.

3. Access to different stocks, investment vehicles, and features.

Monex -> US DRIP, English Tradestation,

Rakuten -> 1% points on Tsumutate, Stock section.

SBI -> zeroshiki »MFs that have lower fees, more Vanguard ETFs.

[zeroshiki]

SBI has some exclusive mutual funds that have lower management fees than even eMaxis Slim. They also have IIRC more Vanguard ETFs.

[RetireJapan]

Monex -> US DRIP, English Tradestation

Monex will have 1% points from January, if you can get Shinsei to deliver your credit card that is

[abeltoy]

SBI has some exclusive mutual funds that have lower management fees than even eMaxis Slim. They also have IIRC more Vanguard ETFs.

Any links for those exclusive lower fees funds? I would like to read more on them.

[zeroshiki]

SBI has some exclusive mutual funds that have lower management fees than even eMaxis Slim. They also have IIRC more Vanguard ETFs.

Any links for those exclusive lower fees funds? I would like to read more on them.

https://go.sbisec.co.jp/lp/lp_sbi_v_series.html

These are SBI wrappers for Vanguard funds. The management fees on them are a tick lower than the comparable eMaxis Slim products but they do it differently (eMaxis buys the stocks, SBI buys Vanguard) so your mileage might vary.

[anroy]

Thanks all.

Your investments are held in your name. e.g. Shares or Mutual Fund units you hold.
I suspect there would need to be a process to move those to another brokerage.

This is the topic I mainly had in mind when I wrote the post. I wouldn't know where to start, or even who to contact. For stocks, would it be the company whose stock it is? And for ETFs / Mutual Funds, the company whose financial product it is?