Bank accounts

The product bank account represents your cash holding for your James Hay products. This money is held in a pooled bank account in the name of the trustees for SIPP products, in the name of the provider for ISA and GIA, and in the name of RL360 for the Offshore Bond.  

Each pooled bank account also holds money for other customers, however your holdings are recorded separately in our records. 

The product bank accounts are designed to facilitate the movement of money within Nucleus products, including contributions and subscriptions, transfers in and out, investment purchases and sales, as well as for the payment of any withdrawals.

Any charges incurred are also normally paid from the product bank account, including Nucleus’ charges as well as those due to investment managers, fund providers, financial advisers and other third parties as required. 

The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) protection limit (up to £120,000 per eligible person) applies separately to each bank we use and was set up to help protect your money in the unlikely event of the failure of the bank. Please note that the money you hold in fixed term deposit or notice accounts from our SIPP and GIA Cash Panel are covered separately by the FSCS, but this limit also includes the money you have in any personal or joint accounts held with banks outside of Nucleus.

Please note that cash held in the Offshore Bond product bank account is held in the name of RL360. As RL360 are a corporate client, they are unlikely to be eligible for compensation in any jurisdiction. 

If we’re using more than one bank, we may spread the cash held in your products across multiple banks in order to maximise the interest return and increase the potential level of FSCS protection.    

We’ll only select banks rated by leading ratings agencies in the ‘BBB’ category or higher for this purpose. Please note that we may change this minimum rating from time to time depending on the economic circumstances. 

If a bank is unable to pay us back all of the money we hold with them on your behalf (i.e. there is a shortfall) we share that shortfall across all of the customers for whom we are holding money. This applies for cash across our SIPP, ISA and GIA products, however SIPP funds are kept separate from those that sit within a GIA or ISA. SIPP funds are kept separate from those that sit within a GIA or ISA.

For example, if 10% of our pooled cash was held with a bank which failed, and they could only repay half of this amount, then you might have a potential shortfall of 5% of your cash balance.  

If the shortfall is less than £120,000 per customer, the FSCS may be able to cover the shortfall amount for eligible persons. Further details on eligibility can be found at fscs.org.uk.

The product bank account is designed for holding cash for short periods of time, while investments are being made or withdrawals are being paid, and so it’s not considered to be a long-term investment option. 

There’s no minimum balance to be held within the product bank accounts, however you should regularly review this to ensure that there are sufficient funds available for investments, charges and withdrawals as required.

If insufficient cash is available to pay fees and charges, automated proportional disinvestment will take place where possible to help cover them. For income or withdrawals, you’ll be asked to specify which assets you’d like to use (this can be cash).