‘My£30k went astray during pension switch and no one noticed’

A pension saver feared that almost £ 30,000 worth of shares were lost when he transferred his self-invested personal pension from one stockbroker to another. The transfer of £ 130,000 from Hargreaves Lansdown to Saxo Markets took 11 months to complete.

Michael Milne, from Edinburgh, said he was caught in the middle of a “blame game”, as both providers shirked responsibility to find the missing money. Nearly £ 30,000 worth of investments were not listed on his new Saxo account, he said.

“The ‘missing’ amount would change from week to week as some shares were accepted and some rejected. When shares were rejected, Saxo appeared not to have alerted Hargreaves to this fact,” he said.

Both providers have continued to blame the other. After identifying the problem, Hargreaves Lansdown staff apologised for the mistake in correspondence with Mr Milne, but warned of Saxo’s failings. An employee wrote: “I appreciate this has been a very disappointing experience for you and it’s a shame that Saxo have not been more helpful when we have contacted them recently.”

Mr Milne requested an “in specie” transfer – where shares are transferred without the need to sell. However, a number of shares were “lost in the ether” during the process, he said.

Hargreaves Lansdown said an administrative error meant that it had incorrectly recorded 11 holdings as having been transferred successfully and it had informed Mr Milne and Saxo that there was no problem at its end.

Saxo Markets said: “Four lines of stock were delayed [during the transfer], falling below the high standards we have set ourselves.” However, a spokesman continued to blame Hargreaves. “Some of the delays involved other parties in the transaction,” he said.

The money was “out of the market” for several weeks, causing Mr Milne to lose investment returns.

Hargreaves Lansdown has offered £300 in compensation and £1,608 to make up for the lost returns. Saxo has offered £400 compensation.