40% lower dividend payouts on the same shares

[Guest hariboid]

Anyone else having this problem with some (not all) US shares? 

This quarter my dividend payouts involved a 11 or 12 line calculation for each share and a drastically reduced payout (on stocks I haven't sold, and which have not reduced their payout)

I've signed a W-8BEN form so it isn't that. 

I'm not getting any useful answers from IG helpdesk and, of course, a total blank from 'Corporate Actions' - whatever that means.

 

[Guest Angela11]

On 13/03/2019 at 10:40, hariboid said:

Anyone else having this problem with some (not all) US shares? 

This quarter my dividend payouts involved a 11 or 12 line calculation for each share and a drastically reduced payout (on stocks I haven't sold, and which have not reduced their payout)

I've signed a W-8BEN form so it isn't that. 

I'm not getting any useful answers from IG helpdesk and, of course, a total blank from 'Corporate Actions' - whatever that means.

 

 

[Caseynotes]

Hi @Angela11,  James answered this same question posted in a duplicate thread (see below). The most probable reason being a reclassification of the shares by the company, you will need to check the company's press releases to find out if that is so in your case.

[Guest hariboid]

@Angela11 @Caseynotes That's just the thing, James did not even remotely answer this question to any meaningful conclusion. I was passed back to the IG helpdesk who submitted an apology and then took five days to reply to my questions:

What is my actual - final - payout for each stock?

When is this insanely stupid 'project' going to end?

Who has oversight of this at management level?

 

The reply was:

 

Thanks for your emails, and apologies for the delay in response.

We have received some feedback from our brokers regarding the multiple dividends and contras on the account.

Our custodian uses a vendor for the annual reclassification of process, which captures all the relevant data for holdings of securities "in scope" for reclassification. The vendor provides us with data which they action from their side. While some entities make public their reclassification information, many do not.

If you are searching publicly for reclassification data, you may want to seek out the Form 8937 of the issuer in question. Sometimes these are public and will contain information related to reclassification.

If you have any further queries, please do not hesitate to contact us. Alternatively, we've recently launched our new

Help & Support site which gives you answers from our huge knowledge-base, online community, and education hub. 

Regards,

Matt Stevens
Trading Services

 

 

Lame, inadequate and completely unhelpful.

 

[Caseynotes]

Hi @hariboid, it seems the problem for IG is that they are the third link in the chain. The company initiated the reclassification, that was then handed on Citi who then handed it on to IG who then passed it on to you. 

I understand how that has caused problems for you resulting in a ridiculous chain of calculations on your statement that was impossible to follow.  IG did say they were investigating ways to abbreviate the process, hopefully that will be sooner rather than later.

As in my reply to Angela the company must have issued a statement explaining the reclassification which would be worth looking into for clarity. 

[Guest hariboid]

Hi @Caseynotes 

Sure, but that's entirely lame. 

1. If divi's need to be reclassified, do it in a way which isn't dumb and doesn't make clients lives impossible. 

Answer from IG - no answer

2. Investigating ways to abbreviate.

When will those ways be implemented? No answer.

How about an Interim solution? No answer

3. The reclassification - with statement or otherwise - does not automatically constitute an explanation. And the implementation, which is everything, is staggeringly bad. It doesn't matter if they are the third link or the seventh. Either deliver a reasonable service for dividends from some of the biggest companies in the world, or don't offer those shares to clients. 

I'm tired of excuses, justifications and flippant responses. The bottom line: IG is delivering a pitifully poor service and doing absolutely nothing to remedy it or help clients stuck with the mess.  

[Caseynotes]

@hariboid,  I agree but I keep wondering why this doesn't seem to have happened before, or at least I don't remember anyone coming forward on the forum before with a similar experience in the 3 years since I've been on here. I wonder if there might have been a breakdown somewhere, you said this was the first time this had happened? 

[Guest hariboid]

@Caseynotes, it started about 5 months ago - I got some elaborate and difficult to understand calculations for an MLP holding I had - EPD. But it's crept up and into US REITS just this last quarter iirc. Before that, dividends just came in as normal.