The main reasons for delisting include violating regulations and failing to meet minimum financial standards such as the ability to maintain a minimum share price, financial ratio's, and sales levels. Delisting can also be a voluntarily decision by the company.
When a company does not meet listing requirements, the listing exchange issues a warning of non-compliance. If non-compliance continues, the exchange is required to delist the company's stock.
Usually, the company would issue a press release through the investor relations section of their website to notify shareholders. After a stock has delisted, our corporate actions and risk departments would review the status of the stock and make any account adjustments if required. Each account type has different processes, as explained below:
CFD accounts
The standard procedure is to keep your position open until the company issues any shareholder proceeds or deems the shares worthless. If proceeds are left over for shareholders, we would adjust your account as applicable.
Please note that it could take several years for a company to liquidate or complete the delisting process, which is out of our control. If a stock has been delisted from the exchange but continues to trade OTC (over the counter), the stock’s status would change to ‘call to close’. This means the stock is now on phone dealing only and you would need to call our helpdesk if you wish to close the position. This is because we do not offer stocks that only trade OTC.
Stock trading accounts
If you hold shares that have delisted on your IG stock trading account, we can't close the position – as we have no control in this instance. We would have to wait for the company to complete their delisting process which could take several years. Once completed, you may or may not be granted proceeds as a shareholder. If no funds are left over after a liquidation, proceeds are usually not granted.
If a stock has been delisted from the exchange but continues to trade OTC (over the counter), the stock’s status would change to ‘call to close’. This means the stock is now on phone dealing only and you would need to call our helpdesk if you wish to close the position. This is because we do not offer stocks that only trade OTC. The standard phone dealing charges would apply.
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