Bestinvest Is Closing US Resident Accounts

The Letter Bestinvest Is Sending to US Residents

The letters follow a consistent pattern. Bestinvest confirms that the client now resides in the United States, states that it is authorized by the Financial Conduct Authority to provide investment services to clients based in the UK only, and explains that it does not hold the US regulatory permissions needed to continue. It then asks the client to find a provider that does, and gives notice that services will cease, in the cases we have seen, 30 days from the date of the letter.

The letter also notes that clients with a portfolio above 250,000 dollars may be eligible for a separate discretionary proposition through Evelyn Partners. For everyone else, the instruction is to find another provider. Clients who hold a SIPP receive separate transfer-out paperwork, because moving a SIPP differs from moving a General Investment Account or ISA. The 30-day window applies regardless of account type.

Why Is This Happening?

This is not a change of policy or a tightening of the Bestinvest terms. It is the predictable result of a regulatory framework that has always applied, now being enforced more consistently.

FCA Authorization Does Not Extend to the US

Bestinvest is authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, which permits it to provide regulated investment services to clients in the United Kingdom. It has never been authorized to provide ongoing investment services to clients living in the United States. To serve a US resident as an investment adviser, a firm, or an individual adviser, must be registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission or qualify for a specific exemption. Bestinvest has neither. The moment a client discloses a US address, the relationship becomes non-compliant under US securities law. Bestinvest is doing the correct thing in ending these relationships. The problem is not its response. The problem is that many people who moved from the UK to the US spent years on a platform that was never built to serve them once they left. You can check any adviser on the SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure database.

The Trigger: A Routine Residency Check

What usually starts the process is a routine address verification. Like other UK platforms, Bestinvest periodically asks clients to confirm their address. Where the address on file is a PO box or a relative UK address, often used by people who want to keep a nominal UK footprint, the platform asks for a residential address. Once the client confirms a US address, the compliance clock starts and the 30-day notice follows. For clients who have used a UK correspondence address for years, this can arrive suddenly and with little warning.

Why UK Platforms Cannot Serve US Residents

The Bestinvest position is not unusual. It is the standard reality for almost every UK direct-to-consumer investment platform when a client becomes a US resident. The same pattern has played out with Fidelity and Interactive Investor, among others. The issues fall into four connected categories.

1. The US Regulatory Perimeter

UK platforms are built for UK residents, and FCA authorization covers UK-based clients. The SEC takes a strict, extraterritorial view of investment adviser regulation: a firm managing money for a US resident is, in the SEC view, providing advisory services in the United States and must be registered accordingly unless an exemption applies. Most UK platforms hold no US registration at all, so they exclude US persons entirely. AJ Bell, Interactive Investor, Hargreaves Lansdown, and most other major UK platforms carry the same restriction. This is a deliberate regulatory boundary, not an oversight.

2. Custody and IRS Reporting

Even where a platform might tolerate a non-UK address, the underlying custody arrangements are rarely built for US persons. In the Bestinvest case, the custody setup is not geared to the IRS reporting requirements that apply to US individuals. A platform that cannot produce US-compatible reporting cannot reasonably keep a US-resident client, regardless of goodwill.

3. Banking and Currency

UK platforms are wired to UK bank accounts, direct debits, and sterling. A US resident living and spending in dollars has to push every contribution and every withdrawal through a currency conversion, often at poor platform rates, sometimes through a UK bank account that is itself at risk of closure. For someone drawing retirement income, an unmanaged sterling-to-dollar position is a real and ongoing drag on income, entirely separate from how the investments perform.

Bestinvest SIPP, GIA, and ISA on Closure: At a Glance

The table below summarizes what closure means for each account type and the route that is most often appropriate.

Tax treatment depends on your circumstances and the applicable double taxation agreement. The summary above is general and is not a substitute for personal advice.

What Happens to Your SIPP If Your Account Is Closed?

The closure letters draw a distinction that matters: SIPP transfer-out paperwork is separate from that for a GIA or ISA, because the transfer process differs. When Bestinvest closes the account, the underlying assets remain with the product provider, but Bestinvest stops acting as your servicing agent. The provider may then contact you about its own policy on non-UK residents. Your options at that point are broadly:

• Transfer the SIPP to an International SIPP designed for non-UK residents, which can hold the assets, accept further contributions where allowed, and support drawdown in a structure that works under both UK and US rules. For most US residents, this is the right answer.
• Take pension benefits if you have reached minimum pension age, currently 55 and rising to 57 from April 2028. Crystallizing and drawing the fund can suit small pots, but it permanently removes the tax-advantaged wrapper and should not be a default.
• Transfer to a QROPS. For a US resident this is generally a non-starter, not easily done and rarely advisable, because there are no US-registered QROPS and the IRS applies extra scrutiny to the jurisdictions that host them.

The right route depends on your age, the size of the pension, your US tax position, and your retirement plans. It is a decision that should be made with regulated advice from an adviser who holds the appropriate US authorization.

What to Do If You Have Received a Bestinvest Closure Notice

Immediate priorities:

• Do not sign and return the transfer-out paperwork before taking advice on where the pension should go. A poorly directed transfer can have lasting tax consequences on both sides of the Atlantic.
• Confirm the value of every account you hold at Bestinvest, SIPP, GIA, and ISA separately, so you have a clear picture of what needs to move.
• Note that an ISA cannot move to an overseas equivalent. We work with ISA providers that accept US-connected persons alongside an SEC-authorized adviser.
• If your closure relates to Interactive Investor or another platform rather than Bestinvest, the same principles apply.
• Contact Cameron James USA to arrange an initial consultation before the 30-day window closes. You can also view our published fees.

A Cameron James USA adviser will review your full position, confirm the options available to you, and set out a clear plan for moving your assets into a structure that is properly authorized to serve you where you actually live.