Stockbroker Selftrade recently threatened to deny its customers access to their investments. It has since told them they are to be transferred to Equiniti, but not yet.
Selftrade originally demanded highly personal, intrusive information, supported by certified documents sent through the ordinary post – or accounts would be frozen. In the face of customer outrage the demands have been watered down, but they are still demands.
Following a questioning letter to Sir David Walker about bonus awards for 2013, UKSA was invited to meet him. This meeting took place on Monday 7th April.
The economic value of the Persimmon 2012 LTIP grant is now close to £400million.
• £120million of this will go to just 3 directors.
• £10million will go to the Chief Executive who retired in April 2013.
This is a huge transfer of value from a scheme that was never justified in the first place (see UKSA's 2013 advice) and has since been inflated by the effect on all housebuilders' share prices of Help to Buy.
Long term Barclays’ shareholders who took up the Open Offer of 2008 will remember bitterly the board’s broken promises, explicitly stated in the Q & A leaflet issued at the time, that not only would it “maintain its current dividend policy” but the new shares would qualify for the next dividend to be paid. Ever since then it has been evident that the bank’s shareholders, its nominal owners, count for very little indeed by comparison with the hunger of its executives for their bonuses.
As the UK’s principal organisation representing the interests of individual shareholders, we play an active role in seeking to influence government and the various regulatory bodies on matters which affect those interests. It is a feature of the strength of our membership that we are able to draw upon considerable experience, professional as well as investment, to ‘punch above our weight’.
It has been announced that Sir Win Bischoff, currently chairman of Lloyds Banking Group plc, will succeed Baroness Hogg as chairman of the Financial Reporting Council (FRC).
Notably, as a long term banker, Sir Win is known to be in favour of improved accounting, particularly for the banks. At the launch of a book on the banking industry in 2013 he commented, “We need a return to proper forward loss provisioning. People should be paid on realised profits, not mark-to market (values)”.
The UK Shareholders' Association has made a commentary on the Discussion Paper on the Conceptual Framework issued by the IASB.
Read the undernoted associated papers in full.
UKSA welcomes this month’s launch of a common database on which European audit regulators will be able to study each other’s inspectors’ reports on the ten largest European audit firm networks: PwC, KPMG, Deloitte, EY, BDO, Grant Thornton, Nexia, Baker Tilly, Mazars and Moore Stephens. These are responsible for auditing ‘public interest entities’ (PIEs) -- banks, insurance companies and other companies of similar importance.
The UKSA policy team has been investigating use of sections 146/147 of the Companies Act. These enable investors using nominee accounts to receive information from the companies in which they invest, but only if the nominee account provider chooses to “nominate” the beneficial owner for this purpose. The great majority of stockbrokers don’t do this and UKSA is beginning to challenge their reticence.
The UK Shareholders' Association Office telephone number has changed to 0208 295 1667
Renewing your UKSA membership is quick and easy, ensuring uninterrupted access to all the advantages of membership.
