IIS is not so easy to close – Newspaper Kommersant No. 51 (7496) of 03/27/2023

Clients of Tinkoff Investments faced difficulties when closing individual investment accounts (IIA). To do this, you must either personally come to the office, or send a notarized order there. Lawyers note that professional participants themselves determine the regulations for the provision of brokerage services and the client should familiarize himself with it in advance. The simplicity of the IIS closing procedure can cause massive activity, creating operational and liquidity risks for the broker, experts explain.

The broker “Tinkoff Investments” changed the procedure for closing IIS, which caused massive complaints. According to clients, before closing the IIS was available from the personal account. Now you need to go to the office in Moscow, or send a notarized order by mail. Tinkoff confirmed the availability of only these options. The Bank of Russia did not respond to Kommersant’s request.

Remote closing of IIS is the most efficient way to obtain invested liquidity, says Anna Avakimyan, chief analyst at RegBlok. Meanwhile, in conditions of instability and sanctions restrictions, any sharp market fluctuation may cause an increase in the tendency to close investment positions.

Not all large retail brokers have physical offices, Dmitry Lesnov, Head of the Finam Client Service Development Department, noted. In addition, in the conditions of remote work and the mass departure of citizens after the announcement of mobilization in September, many are physically unable to visit the broker’s office, he added.

There may be a lot of reasons why a client needs to close an IIS, notes Dmitry Alexandrov, managing director of Ivolga Capital. The most common problem, according to him, is as follows: IIS cannot change its type, this can only be done through closing. Clients who have ceased to be tax residents of the Russian Federation may also want to minimize their relationship with the tax authorities and transfer assets to ordinary accounts, he believes. Finally, the client may simply want to withdraw money from the account. “As for the broker, I do not see any technical obstacles to the remote closing of IIS, as well as obvious reasons to limit this possibility,” he emphasizes.

However, the simplicity of the procedure for closing the IIA, according to Ms. Avakimyan, can cause massive activity, creating operational and liquidity risks for the broker. If the client nevertheless draws up the closure of IIS in all forms, then due to the closure of the account one or two days after the decision was made due to changes in quotations, the client can fix losses, she points out.

The law on the securities market does not provide for the client’s obligation to apply for the closure of the IIS and the transfer of funds and other assets in person at the broker’s office, however, such a procedure may be provided for by the company’s regulations, explains Andrey Drozdov, Asnis and Partners lawyer. In any case, “forcing the client to submit the relevant application in person, especially in conditions of being abroad,” the lawyer calls “excessive.”

The broker is obliged to develop regulations for the provision of brokerage services, Viktoria Tsybina, lawyer for Yukov and Partners, added. Based on the general rules of law, the client can at any time terminate the contract unilaterally by sending a written notice to the bank about the termination of the contract, she added.

The notice of termination of the agreement may be submitted to the bank by registered mail with a return receipt or at the place where the agreement was concluded. If there are securities on the accounts at the time of termination of the account agreement, the expert adds, the client is obliged to submit an instruction to the bank to deregister the securities.

To avoid difficulties and surprises, emphasizes Ms. Tsybina, the client must initially carefully read all the documents of the broker, the regulations for the provision of services, especially in terms of established restrictions or deadlines for closing an account.

Ksenia Kulikova