What can I do to ensure a smooth process for transferring my securities via Free of Payment of Global Securities (Basic FOP) method?

Overview

A transfer of securities via Free of Payment of Global Securities (Basic FOP) requires multiple steps at IBKR and your current financial institution to transfer securities. Your current financial institution and IBKR have to get in touch via email to agree on the delivery of your assets and share the "Standard Settlement Instruction" as well as "Trade and Settlement Dates", which are required for processing your transfer (only shared between financial institutions upon their contact). Only if both parties agreed on the delivery and if matching instructions from both are placed in the market, the transfer will settle. Typically the delivering financial institution gets in touch with the receiving financial institution once they are ready to deliver your securities. The timing on when the delivering institution gets in touch for starting the transfer process strongly depends on them and their procedure. Each financial institution may have their own procedures and forms to complete. It requires to contact both parties to make them aware of your transfer.

Inbound Transfer		Outbound Transfer
Action to take	We advise you to get in touch with your current financial institution for information on their process and speed of execution. Please note that your current financial institution may have their own procedures or forms they require you to complete. Please reach out to them for information on their requirements. Once your Financial Institution contacts IBKR, we will start communication to agree on the delivery of your securities.	IBKR will reach out to your financial institution to process your transfer. Execution strongly depends on how fast your financial institution responds to us to agree on the delivery. Please note that the receiving financial institution may have their own procedures or forms they require you to complete to accept the securities. Please reach out to them for information on their requirements.
Timing	Depending on the complexity of your transfer and which market/depository your securities are held, multiple communications may be required which can take a few business days. This is not unusual and is market practice for this kind of transfer. Please contact the delivering institution for updates on your transfer. The Transaction History and Status page in Client Portal will provide you a status of your transfer request.	Execution strongly depends on how fast your financial institution responds to us to agree on the delivery. Multiple communications may be required which can take a few business days. This is not unusual and is market practice for this kind of transfer. The Transaction History and Status page in Client Portal will provide you a status of your transfer request.

Find below detailed information on the process and relevant notes to consider for a successful transfer

Inbound Transfer

Please refer to the Transaction Status and History page of your account to track the progress of your transfer.

Steps	Actions to take	Details
Step 1	Create an inbound transfer request in Client Portal Please click here for step-by-step instructions.	Please provide us all relevant information for your transfer such as: Name of the current Financial Institution Country of Financial Institution Your account at the current Financial Institution (Your security portfolio account number) Name of Account Holder at Financial Institution (Has to be identically with your IBKR account name) Account Type Contact email of your Financial Institution (Note: Enter your Financial Institutions Transfer Department contact. Do not enter your personal contact information! Add securities you wish to transfer IMPORTANT - Please ensure that the securities and the quantity entered matches with your transfer order provided to your current Financial Institution. The details given to both financial institutions must match. - If your shares are multi-listed (different currencies/exchanges) please select the currency your security is currently held in at your financial institution. Please note that IBKR can only accept the following: We do not allow changes in beneficial ownership. IBKR will only accept delivery from an account that is entitled in the same name as your account. If your transfer request includes securities held in multiple accounts at your financial institution, please submit a separate request for each account. If your shares are multi-listed (different currencies/exchanges) please select the currency your asset is currently held in at your financial institution. Only electronic listed shares are supported (e.g. no physical certificates can be transferred). IBKR is not able to transfer fraction of stocks. The assets have to be free of any settlement, transfer or trade limitations and/or restrictions. IBKR has limitations on positions classified as U.S. Microcap Security. For more information please refer to: U.S. Microcap Stock Restrictions The IBKR account receiving the transfer is projected to remain margin complaint post-transfer. In the Spanish market, all shares transferred to Interactive Brokers will be re-registered under their street name. Options cannot be transferred in the week of expiration. If your account at the delivering Financial Institution is a single account and your IBKR account is a joint account, where you are one of the account holders, IBKR is able to accept the delivery as long as the delivering institution agrees to the transfer. In this case select in the field Account Type "Joint". You are not eligible to transfer from a joint account at your Financial Institution to your single account at IBKR in your name only. If your Financial Institution is not listed in the drop down of available Financial Institutions, please refer to Why is my foreign broker/bank not in the position transfer list?
Step 2	Contact your current Financial Institution and provide them your order to transfer The transfer can only be completed after they receive your explicit instructions to deliver your assets to IBKR . Failure to instruct may result in the expiration of your Inbound Basic FOP request.	During Step 1, after having confirmed your transfer request, IBKR will show you a "Customer Account Transfer Letter of Authorization" which you can print, sign and date and provide to your Financial Institution to initiate the transfer of your securities. (If your financial institution is located in Australia, the print and upload of the Letter of Authorization is mandatory). If you have missed to print/save the Letter of Authorization, you can at anytime do so in the Transaction Status & History of your Client Portal selecting your transfer. Following your Financial Institutions procedure to request the transfer. They may require a signed copy of the Letter or Authorization or have their own forms you have to complete and/or may require you to enter the request online. Please contact them for additional information as the procedure varies widely by Financial Institution. Once the delivering institution has been authorized and is ready to deliver, they must contact us via email at fop-transfer-in@interactivebrokers.com, please note this email is exclusively for correspondence between financial institutions/counter parties.. No transfer will take place until the delivering institution has contacted us. Important If your Financial Institution does not contact us within 35 days, IBKR will reject your transfer request. We advise you to check with your Financial Institution on the status and re-enter your transfer request in the Client Portal, if they confirm they are still working on your transfer. IBKR will send you reminders via the message center of your account, if they have not gotten in touch with us. There is no need to confirm back to us, if they told you they are working on your transfer. We will communicate with them upon their contact and proceed with your transfer.
Step 3	Awaiting Contact From your Current Financial Institution	IBKR is waiting for your current Financial Institution to contact us to initiate the security transfer. If you haven`t already, please request the security transfer from your current financial institution. Refer to Step 2 on further instructions. Unless your financial institution contacts us, the transfer will not make progress. If you have requested a security transfer from your current financial institution and several business days have elapsed without any progress, you may want to reach out to them for updates on the progress of your transfer.
Step 4	Awaiting Receipt of Securities	IBKR has been contacted by your current financial institution and we are coordinating the receipt of your securities. Next Steps: There is nothing for you to do at this time. Depending on the complexity of your transfer, the process may take several business days to complete. If several business days have elapsed with no progress here, please reach out to your current financial institution for updates.
Step 5	Securities Partially Received	IBKR has successfully received some of the securities in your portfolio. We are working with your current financial institution to receive the remaining securities. Next Steps: There is nothing for you to do at this time. It is not uncommon for securities to transfer on different dates depending on the asset class and market they are held.
Step 6	Transfer Complete	All eligible securities have been received and applied to your account at IBKR .

Outbound

Please refer to the Transaction Status and History page of your account to track the progress of your transfer.

Steps	Actions to take	Details
Step 1	Create an outbound transfer request in Client Portal. Please click here for step by step instructions.	1. Please provide us all relevant information for your transfer such as: Name of the current Financial Institution Country of Financial Institution Your account at the receiving Financial Institution (Your security portfolio account number) Name of Account Holder at Financial Institution (Has to be identically with your IBKR account name) Account Type Contact email of your Financial Institution (Note: Enter your Financial Institutions Transfer Department contact. Do not enter your personal contact information!) 2. Add securities you wish to transfer You are able to either transfer your positions partially or select ALL to transfer your entire portfolio.
Step 2	Contact your current Financial Institution and provide them your order to transfer The transfer can only be completed after they receive your explicit instructions to receive your securities from IBKR. Failure to instruct may result in the expiration of your Outbound Basic FOP request.	IBKR will contact your financial institution to arrange the delivery of your securities. Follow your Financial Institutions procedure to request the transfer. They may require you to complete forms and/or may require you to enter the request online. Please contact them for additional information as the procedure varies widely by Financial Institution. Once they respond on our initial contact and are ready to accept our delivering, we will arrange the transfer of your securities with them. No transfer will take place until the delivering institution has contacted us. Important If your Financial Institution does not contact us within 35 days, IBKR will reject your transfer request. We advise you to check with your Financial Institution on the status and re-enter your transfer request in the Client Portal, if they confirm they are still working on your transfer.
Step 3	Awaiting Response from your Current Financial Institution	IBKR is waiting for your current Financial Institution to respond on our initial communication sent to them. If you haven`t already, please request the security transfer to your current financial institution. Refer to Step 2 on further instructions.
Step 4	Awaiting Delivery of Securities	IBKR has been contacted by your current financial institution and we are coordinating the delivery of your securities. Next Steps: There is nothing for you to do at this time. Depending on the complexity of your transfer, the process may take several business days to complete. Monitor the progress of your transfer on the Transaction Status & History page.
Step 5	Securities Partially delivered	IBKR has successfully delivery some of the securities out of your portfolio. We are working with your current financial institution to deliver the remaining securities. Next Steps: There is nothing for you to do at this time. It is not uncommon for securities to transfer on different dates depending on the asset class and market they are held.
Step 6	Transfer Complete	All eligible securities have been delivered.

I have been informed that certain securities could not be accepted. Why?

Clearing Issues

There is situations that may not allow the transfer of securities between financial institutions due to clearing issues.

Sometimes, financial institutions hold the same security at different depositories. To deliver securities held under different depositories, a so called cross border delivery is required.

Successful Cross Border delivery strongly depends on the involved depositories and are otherwise rejected if unable to accommodate.

IBKR will generally accept an inbound transfer of any security position which meet the following conditions:

The position is listed on an electronic exchange or marketplace offered by IBKR
If the transfer includes a mutual fund, that fund is offered by IBKR
The position is not subject to any settlement, transfer or trade limitations and/or restrictions
The position is not classified as a U.S. Microcap security (See the Knowledge Base)
The IBKR account receiving the transfer is projected to remain margin compliant post-transfer
IBKR is able to secure a stock borrow if the position transferred is a short stock

In particular, the following products are generally not transferable:

U.S. Microcap Securities
CFDs
Cryptocurrency
Limited Partnership Units (for US IRA accounts)
Restricted Securities
Physical deliveries (e.g. commodities)
Physical shares/share certificates

Why does the settlement of certain securities take longer then other?

To arrange the delivery of your securities via "Free of Payment of Global Securities", it typically takes a few business days once the involved financial institutions are in contact but the delivery of some assets are more complex than others and depends as well on the depository the securities are held and if the financial institution holds the securities at the same depository which can add additional time to complete the transfer. Keep in mind that communication between the financial institutions happens solely via email and may require multiple exchanges of communication in order to share required settlement information and agree on a settlement date.

The following products/depositories usually takes longer than others:

Funds (ie. Funds held at ALLFUNDS Depository)
Transfers where a "cross border delivery" between different depositories is required (ie. When the financial Institution does not hold the security at same depository.)
Cross Border deliveries between EU and APAC depositories.