FAQs

Wellesley offers listed bonds investment opportunitinities. We intend to continue offering this product exclusively as we simplify investing.

Currently, customers can invest in The Wellesley Property Bond.

In simple terms, a bond is an instrument for a borrower to raise capital and an opportunity for investors to earn interest on their capital.Investors can buy bonds and the money is lent to an issuer. This money will be repaid back over time, plus interest. In short, businesses and the government issue bonds to raise funds from investors. Investors typically receive interest at a pre-determined rate. Interest on The Wellesley Property Bond, for example, is paid  monthly.

Non-listed bonds are issued to investors privately by companies and not recognised as a security on the financial markets and therefore are not transferable. They are illiquid and they are not eligible to be held within an ISA account.

Listed bonds are listed on a recognised stock exchange. Listed bonds can be traded however, trading is subject to availability and there is no guarantee of buyer demand should an investor wishes to sell prior to maturity. They are also eligible to be held within an ISA account.

The Wellesley Property Bond is listed on Euronext Dublin (formerly the Irish Stock Exchange) which is ranked No.1 for bond and investment fund listings worldwide and has over 36,700 securities listed.

If you’d like to become a Wellesley customer and start taking advantage of our investment products, please follow our simple registration process which can be actioned online or via email or post.

To apply online, please complete this registration process here.

To apply via email or post, please click here to download a registration form.

Please note, we may require further information to verify your account.

Any individual who is over the age of 18 and that is a resident of the UK, Channel Islands or Isle of Man.

Wellesley Bond products are only available to UK, Channel Islands and Isle of Man residents. If you do not reside in one of these countries, we will not be able to accept your application.

No. We are no longer accepting new applications for joint accounts. All new accounts must be opened in the name of one account holder only.

Anyone with an existing joint account can continue using their account as usual.

If you already hold an account with Wellesley, please download this Wellesley Customer ISA Registration form. Once complete, please return either via post - Freepost WELLESLEY & CO LIMITED or Wellesley, St Albans House, 57/59 Haymarket, London SW1Y 4QX - or email -newaccounts@wellesley.3eleven.net.

Please note, you only need to complete the Transfer Authority Form (page 2) if you would like to transfer an existing ISA holding to Wellesley. As we require a wet signature on page 2 this must be returned to us via post.

No. There are no fees or charges for anyone wishing to invest with Wellesley.

It is a UK regulatory requirement that we verify your identity prior to opening your account. In the event that we are unable to verify your details on registration, we will require you to provide us with additional documentation.

We’ve put together a list of documents that we can accept for verification purposes.

We require you to supply one document from each section below. Some documents appear in both sections.  We’ll need to see two separate forms of identity, so you can’t use one document to cover both sections. Where address details are displayed this must reflect your current residential address.

We recommend that you don’t send original documents through the post using a non-secure service as we can’t accept liability for their safety en route to us.

We’re happy to accept copies of documentation if they’re certified by a professional person. See below for details of who can certify copy documents for details.

Personal identity evidence - List 1

Passport

• Full current UK or overseas passport
• The passport must be signed

Driving licence

• Full current UK driving licence
• EEA/EU photocard licence

Other

• Shotgun or firearms certificate

Address evidence - List 2

Local Authority documents

• Council Tax bill or payment book (valid for current tax year)
• Local council rent card or tenancy agreement

Driving licence

• Full current UK driving licence
• EEA/EU photocard licence

Utility bills

Utility bill (not a mobile phone bill) or a certification from a supplier of utilities confirming the arrangement to pay for its services on pre-payment terms. This must be dated within six months.

• Gas
• Electricity
• Water
• Phone (not mobile)
• TV licence renewal

Financial statements

All statements must be dated within six months. Online statements can only be accepted if they are certified by the issuer as a true copy, if they agree to do so.

• Bank statement
• Credit card statement
• Building society statement
• Mortgage statement

Original certified document means the copy which has been officially certified, officially stamped and signed by a qualified certifier as detailed below.

We will NOT accept: Any certified copies of a Driving Licence or Shotgun/Firearms Licence which does not show the customers current address.

Certified documents must include the following statement:

Stamped with the official name & address stamp of a firm of UK solicitors/accountant/notary.

The statement: I (insert: “name of solicitor/accountant/notary”) confirm that this is a certified true copy of the original, and I certify that “the photograph bears a true likeness of (“insert name of customer”) identified in the document and present before me.

Be dated within the last six months

Documents verified by any of the below professionals (Stamped with their official practice stamp) will be accepted:

SOLICITORS

NOTARY

ACCOUNTANTS

THEY MUST BE WORKING WITHIN A FIRM WHO ARE REGULATED IN THEIR PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE BY THEIR RELEVANT NATIONALLY RECOGNISED REGULATORY SUPERVISORY BODY, AND WE WILL CHECK THAT THEY ARE APPROPRIATELY AUTHORISED AND REGULATED.

OR

In person: Customers are very welcome to visit our offices with the relevant documents. Please call to arrange your appointment on 0800 888 6001.

If you have any questions or would like to speak in more detail please do not hesitate to contact a member of our team at newaccounts@wellesley.3eleven.net or by telephone on 0800 888 6001.

Making payment to your Wellesley account is a simple two-step process:

1. Customers must notify Wellesley via their online account that they intend to deposit.
   To do this, customers should log in to their Wellesley account here, click the ‘Invest’ tab from the top bar menu, click ‘Add Cash’ and complete the ‘How to add funds into your account’ form. Please be sure that you select 'Add Cash' from your ISA holding account if you intend on investing via your ISA account.
2. Customers must then arrange payment via bank transfer or cheque.
   Bank transfer payments should be sent to the following account:
   Account Name: TPS re Wellesley
   Account number: 10007862
   Sort Code: 12-22-07
   Please include the provided reference number as the payment reference. Cheques must be made payable to TPS re Wellesley Client Account and sent to the following address:
   Wellesley & Co Limited
   C/O Third Platform Services Limited,
   17 Neals Yard,
   London,
   WC2H 9DP
   Please write your reference number on the reverse of the cheque.
   Funds will be credited to your accounts once cleared. This may take up to seven working days from date of credit.

Payments are made to a segregated client account with our partner Third Platform Services Limited.

There is a £1,000 minimum investment on our listed bond products. Investments can be made in increments of £1,000 thereafter with no maximum investment.

We have engaged Third Platform Services Limited (“TPS”), who are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN 717915), to provide clearing, settlement and custody services which include arranging for your funds to be held in an omnibus client money account with the Bank of Scotland in accordance with the Financial Conduct Authority’s Client Money Rules.

Interest is paid into your holding account each month and you are then free to withdraw or reinvest as you wish. Interest is calculated from a bond’s listing date. Please allow up to three working days from the monthly anniversary for funds to clear and appear in your holding account.

Early Investor Interest is an initiative introduced in August 2019 that is applicable to all Wellesley’s listed bond products.

Investment into listed bonds typically don’t start earning interest until a bond lists. For investors with Wellesley this meant that funds committed to a bond during the subscription period did not earn interest during this period; interest only started accruing when the bond was listed on the regulated exchange, Euronext Dublin.

The Early Investor Interest initiative sets out that investors into Wellesley’s listed bonds will earn interest for the whole month of the subscription period if they subscribe to the bond in the first half of the month. This means that early investors will receive an additional month’s interest on their investment.

Click here for further information.

Any funds held within your holding account, will not earn interest. You will only start earning interest when a bond you have subscribed to is listed on a stock exchange. Please click here for further information on this process.

All of Wellesley’s listed bond products are ISA eligible including The Wellesley Property Bond which is currently open to new investment.

Legacy Wellesley products including peer-to-peer and mini-bonds are not ISA eligible.

In the event that Wellesley entered administration, Wellesley Security Trustee Limited would assume its duty to manage the orderly run-off of our loan book and repayment of outstanding loans to matched lenders.

Funds that are not matched directly with borrowers are held in a segregated Client Money account. This account is held with a UK Bank and is ring-fenced from the Wellesley balance sheet.

In the event that Wellesley entered administration, funds in this bank account would be returned to investors and could not be accessed by administrators.

Wellesley has entered into an agreement with Resolution Compliance Limited to act as a third party back up service provider, who will independently manage the loan book on behalf of investors if Wellesley became insolvent.

Wellesley processes withdrawal requests at approximately 3.30pm Monday to Friday. Withdrawals are processed by BACs; please allow four working days for funds to clear.

Please complete the following steps below to withdraw funds from your Wellesley account:

1. Login to your Wellesley account here.
2. Click ‘Invest’ from the top bar menu.
3. Click the ‘Withdraw Cash’ button on the account you wish to make a withdrawal from.
4. Complete the ‘Cash Withdrawal Request’ form and click ‘confirm’. Please note that your account balance will only reflect your withdrawal request, after we have instructed it at approximately 3.30pm each working day.

Please note that funds will be returned to the bank account linked to your account. Details of which can be found on the Account Overview page on your account.

In order to open a Wellesley ISA account, existing customers must complete and return the existing customer ISA application form which can be downloaded here.

In May 2017, Wellesley closed its peer-to-peer product offering as the business evolved its offerring towards bond products.

In June 2019, Wellesley closed its final mini-bond offering as part of an evolution of the business toward its listed bond investment products.

As part of an evolution of the investment products offered by Wellesley, in July 2019, a new online investment platform was launched to bring Wellesley's listed bond products to investors. For further information on the new platform, please click here.

The old Wellesley platform (Wellesley Classic) is still accessible to customers with legacy peer-to-peer or mini-bond holdings. To access simply, log in to your account here and click the ‘Wellesley Classic’ button at the top of the page.

At Wellesley, we’re undergoing a transformation as we evolve our product offering exclusively towards listed bonds. As part of this progression, we’ve developed a new platform that enables customers to invest into our listed bonds directly with Wellesley. Previously, Wellesley listed bonds could only be purchased through our partners, The Share Centre.

The new platform has simplified and streamlined the process of investing in Wellesley's listed bonds and we will continue to make improvements to its functionality as we aim to provide customers with easy and transparent access to investing.

We understand that the new platform will require some familiarisation for our customers who are used to Wellesley Classic. We’ve created a handy list of how to guides and a glossary to help navigate through the journey.

Your personal information can be found by clicking your name on the drop-down menu that can be found at the top right of your screen. Should any of this information need updating, please get in touch with our customer service team at info@wellesley.3eleven.net or by telephone on 0800 888 6001, or on our live chat service. Our phone lines and live chat service are open Monday to Friday 8.30am to 5.30pm.

Your bank account information can be found on the Account Overview page of your online account. Should you need to update your bank details, please get in touch with our customer service team at info@wellesley.3eleven.net or by telephone on 0800 888 6001. Our phone lines are open Monday to Friday 8.30am to 5.30pm.

Please note we may require additional documentation to confirm the bank account details you provided are in your name and not a 3^rd party.

Should you need to close your Wellesley account, first please ensure all funds have been withdrawn from your holding account and that no other funds are committed to any investment product. Then, please get in touch with our customer service team at info@wellesley.3eleven.net or by telephone on 0800 888 6001, or on our live chat service. Our phone lines and live chat service are open Monday to Friday 8.30am to 5.30pm.

Wellesley engages with Third Platform Services Limited who are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN 717915) to provide clearing, settlement and custody services.

Wellesley provides loans to well-established UK property developers. Please click here for more information on our loans.

While there is no maximum loan amount, typically our loans fall between £2 milllion and £20 million.

The Business Acceptance Committee (‘BAC’) is the approval authority for the risk related to new lending transactions. BAC assesses the risk of each transaction on a case-by-case basis and its adherence to the requirements set out in the Credit Policy.  BAC will take into account many factors in its assessment of eligibility including lending appetite, geographical location, property specifications, deal structure, pricing, developer experience, financial soundness and other loan specific factors. A loan and borrower will only be agreed if BAC considers the loan is suitable for retail investment.

If a loan becomes non-performing, Wellesley will take enforcement action to maximise recovery of the outstanding balance by taking all reasonable steps that it judges to be commercially viable. This may include enforcement action against the land and property to maximise its value, pursuit of guarantors where relevant, or build out of developments where this is required to maximise recovery.