Regulations and Law

Takeover panel rule change – foreign companies now covered

A little reported change to the Takeover Panel Code that took effect today will strengthen the rights of shareholders significantly. In future those companies that are registered in the UK but have their operations overseas will be bound by the Code. Previously they were not. So for example, AIM companies such as Globo (operations in Greece) or Pan African Resources (operations in South Africa) will now have to comply with the Takeover Panel Code. The Takeover Panel Code helps to protect the ...

Transparency and Trust – Consultation Response Submitted

ShareSoc is submitting a response to the BIS Discussion Paper on “Transparency & Trust” which can be read here:  www.sharesoc.org/Transparency_&_Trust_ShareSoc_Response.pdf . This wide ranging consultation is on a number of proposals to tackle many problems in the modern corporate scene, with a particular focus on tax avoidance and money laundering. Knowing who controls and owns companies is one of the concerns, but it also aims to tackle incompetent and fraudulent directors. A summary of the key points ShareSoc made in our ...

EuroFinuse attacks lack of retail investor representation

Guillaume Prache of EuroFinuse (of which ShareSoc is a member) has been attacking the lack of adequate retail investor representation on European bodies that devise financial market regulations. Specifically he has attacked the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) and its Securities and Markets Stakeholder Group where only a few of the 30 members on the committees are consumer advocates (i.e. retail investors). He complains the big banks are dominating policy development on European financial market regulations which of course now ...