Years ago you started your investing programme with an advisor (and an investing firm) that you really liked. This relationship was comfortable and you maintained the same status for a significant time. Whether your investments were managed and custodied locally, or you held them (for various relevant reasons ) with a broker abroad, your future financial goals and your lifestyle are now being reassessed.

Having said that, there are many reasons that a client changes an investment relationship:

Your trusted advisor has made career choice changes and is no longer employed in Bermuda.

You have made career relocation decisions or lifestyle changes that impact your portfolio.

The style of investing provided by the firm no longer meets your needs; for instance, you may want to keep your current investment structure, but your current firm no longer provides that particular service.

Your personal assets (earned with tax-free dollars) invested overseas may now be subject to / or have been converted to taxable investments triggering onerous reporting, income and estate tax constraints in a tax regime country.

Your personal situation has changed, i.e. you have married, divorced, lost a family member, or have additional family beneficiaries and responsibilities.

You need a more formalised investment relationship with an active portfolio management role devoted to capital preservation.

You are consolidating all assets during an overall planning process that will better meet your future financial needs and goals.

All of these situations, along with many more, may mean that you will have to transfer your assets from where they are now to your new financial relationship.

No one likes change. People will tolerate poor service, poor personal relationships, indifferent shopping excursions, and less than satisfactory financial situations for years simply because making a change is so difficult to contemplate. In financial circles, the thought of moving an account is a less than exciting chore, but it does not need to be. If you are working with experienced professionals, they should be prepared to handle all of the paper shuffling (well, it is really almost all done electronically) for a prompt seamless transition. In the United States, for instance, the process of account transference is so standardised that forms can be downloaded from the Internet. The client opens an account electronically, designates the assets that are to transferred, signs the forms, and sends them to the receiving investment firm. Presto! Sometimes, it can be that easy, but not always even in the US. If you have note participated in this process for a long time, the compliance requirements are still fairly easy, but must be followed. When asking a local celebrity, for instance, to bring in his passport for certification, and a utility bill proving legal residence as well as a bank reference, there is often an attitude of disbelief. It is common to hear, "I am well known in Bermuda; this is an insult to my reputation, etc". What the client does not realise is that financial institution records are now scrutinised by global compliance bodies from any major institutional investment house, taxing authority and others, and guess what? They don't know you!

Two words have changed the financial world forever. September 11. You must demonstrate that you are who you say you are.

Financial institutions found not to be in control of their know-your-client process, must consider the pure liability and possible loss of business. No corporation will accept that risk today. So, it's not that we don't know you (or like you), these are global policies adopted to attempt to control the flow of money used in terrorism, drug trades and other illicit activities.The transfer process works somewhat like a seesaw. Your account comprised of security positions, mutual funds, cash and related investments is emptied (delivered) from your prior financial firm and received by your new financial firm. The entire transaction is dependent upon the co-operation between the delivering and receiving financial institutions.

Let's consider a sample investment portfolio containing a cash account, a few legacy stocks ? both local and global, a few US treasury bonds and some mutual funds, both brand name and proprietary.

Each of these assets is handled a bit differently in the transfer process and is contingent upon how you wish to hold them in your new account. Some clients find it easiest (and generally the most efficient) to order a full redemption of all assets, transferring cash only.

Others prefer to keep their current investment portfolio structure intact, wishing to continue to hold company stock given to them by their grandparents, for instance. Still other assets should not be sold immediately because market conditions, such as rising interest rates, will generate a loss of capital in an existing bond portfolio. is wired out to your new account via SWIFT (or similar messaging services). We've all seen that code word attached to an account transaction at one time or another. We've also read recently about the political storm in the United States generated by various government agencies monitoring all SWIFT transaction in and out of US financial institutions, some 12 million transactions daily.

Established in 1973 by interested group of financial institutions, SWIFT stands for the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication. SWIFT moves more than $1 trillion assets each year, 24 hours a day non-stop world wide.

SWIFT is the industry-owned co-operative supplying secure, standardised messaging services and interface software to nearly 8,000 financial institutions in 206 countries and territories. SWIFT members include banks, broker-dealers and investment managers.

The broader SWIFT community also encompasses corporate as well as market infrastructures in payments, securities, treasury and trade. While cash can be moved expeditiously, transferring security positions intact, otherwise known as free deliver (or transfer in kind) may take a bit longer. Securities have to be identified with a common marker so that no matter the exchange or the language, the security that you owned arrives intact.

An International Securities Identifying Number (ISIN) uniquely identifies a security. Securities for which ISINs are issued include bonds, commercial paper, equities and warrants. The purpose of ISIN assignment is to ensure the standardised identification of issue-grade securities and other financial instruments within a uniform system and the distribution of data to securities market participants.

ISINs and standard descriptions of securities are used in all sectors of the securities industry, and are important in performing precise and effective settlement and clearing.

Custodians then compare notes, so to speak, to be sure that the security transferred is correctly aligned with your account through a complex system of global settlements processing. All you see is positions leaving one account and arriving (intact) in your new account.Mutual fund shares are generally not bought and sold on the open market, but are held at mutual fund company that issued them originally and are responsible for their management. Brand name shares can be transferred from one custodian account to another.

Proprietary shares generally cannot because they are only held, sold and redeemed by one financial institution. If you choose to move your account, those proprietary shares usually have to be liquidated.

Change is not easy; often, change is a necessity. Examine all of your options before you make your decision and the eventual transition will be easy.