Settlements and CREST Accounts

Keeping your transactions quick clear and simple

You've bought, or sold, your shares. Now what? That's where our settlements department is here to help. Put simply, it's their job to manage the money side of things - either the payment for your shares, or sending you your money after a sale. Also each month if you have traded they will send you a statement of your account. You have three account options as a City Equities Limited customer: a certificated account, a CREST nominee account or a CREST Personal member account. We recommend a CREST Personal member account.

What is CREST?*

CREST is an international real-time share settlement system. Uniquely, it provides settlement services for UK, Irish and international securities and government bonds. It settles large volumes of transactions at low cost and in multiple currencies.

The CREST system went live on 15 July 1996. Since then, CREST has evolved into a major settlement system, operating in a growing international market, with direct links to major European countries and the USA.

CREST is owned and operated by CRESTCO Ltd. The company itself is owned by 96 of the system's users. These range from small stockholders to large international securities houses.

And because CRESTCO is not a profit-maximising organisation, its charges are among the lowest of comparable settlement systems.

*Source www.crestco.co.uk (May 2003)

Why CREST?

There are several reasons why holding your shares in a CREST account makes sound financial sense:

You save money

Our administration fees are substantially less when you have a CREST account.

Peace of mind

With CREST, all your share holdings are held electronically by CREST. This means you never have to worry about losing share certificates, or paying up to £50 for a replacement .We also send you a statement of your CREST account twice a year.

Dealing is easier

With a CREST account, you can deal simply by picking up the phone. No paper work ­ we do all that for you. And now that we accept payment by Visa Delta and Switch, you don't even have to go to the trouble of writing a cheque.

Swifter information flow

With a CREST Personal Member account you receive annual reports and accounts, interim reports, corporate actions and rights issues direct from the registrar. With our own nominee account we receive these on your behalf and our customer account system means that we can send the information on to you.



Risk Warning

There is an extra risk of losing money when shares are bought in some smaller companies including 'Penny Shares'. There is a big difference between the buying price and the selling price of these shares. If they have to be sold immediately, you may get back much less than you paid for them or you may have difficulty in selling them. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results. The price may change quickly and it may go down as well as up. You could lose every penny put into a particular share.

The information contained above has been compiled from documented sources which are believed to be reliable but, due to their very nature, are subject to a degree of historical inaccuracy and have not been independently verified and cannot be guaranteed. The pages on this website are provided for information only. City Equities Limited will not accept responsibility for loss incurred by any person or body acting, or refraining from acting, as a result of information and/or opinions given anywhere on this website. Issued by City Equities Limited, Aldermary House, 10-15 Queen Street, London, EC4N 1TY. Registered in England. Registered No. 2742847. Registered Address: Amwell House, 19 Amwell Street, Hoddesdon, Herts. EN11 8TS. City Equities Limited is Authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. Registration No. 155051.