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View all Representation →Consultations- Digitisation Taskforce – Final Report
- FCA Consults on Fund Product Information and Cost Disclosure CP24/30 – ShareSoc Responds
- FRC Consults on UK Stewardship Code – ShareSoc Responds
- FCA Consultation – Modernising Redress
- HMRC Consultation – IHT on Pensions
- ShareSoc Evidence to Lords on FCA Enforcement
- ShareSoc supports FCA proposal for criminal background checks on owners and controllers of financial institutions
- UK ISA: ShareSoc submits consultation response
- FCA Consultation on Enforcement Practice & Transparency
- ShareSoc response to House of Commons Education Select Committee
- UKSA and ShareSoc Submission to Labour Party Review of Financial Services
- FCA Consultation GC23/2 Financial Promotions on Social Media
- VIEW ALL CONSULTATIONS
Education
Events
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Alliance Trust AGM – Will Dundee cake suffice?
Post Date: April 30, 2015
These are some initial impressions of the Alliance Trust AGM in Dundee yesterday - a full report can be found here.
It was not quite as exciting as it might have been after the company conceded defeat the previous day and agreed to accept two of the new directors nominated by Elliott, who then withdrew their resolutions. Alliance said it was a "compromise" but most commentators saw it as a tactical withdrawal at best. All Alliance have got is a "non-disparagement" agreement ...
THE EUROVOTE PROJECT – Help requested
Post Date: April 14, 2015
Help needed please !!!
The Eurovote Project allows investors in other countries to have their shares voted at British AGMS. One of our shareholders takes authorisation supplied by us to the allotted AGM. Recent illness has prevented this from happening in six of our eighteen allocations. We are asking if anyone with shares in the companies below would be prepared to help us to do this. There is no significant effort involved if you are going to the AGM anyway, and a ...
Active Management and Collective Action
Post Date: March 17, 2015
An article in yesterday's FT (16/3/2015) on active investment management, versus passive, by Sophia Grene prompted some thoughts on the topic of "public goods". Passive management is where a manager is simply tracking an index whereas active managers are actually making their own investment decisions. Active management typically costs more to the investor, on the premise that more work is required to be put in by the manager, but they argue that it is justified because they can outperform the market. ...
ShareSoc Launches Share Ownership Reform Proposals
Post Date: February 10, 2015
ShareSoc has just issued the following press release:
ShareSoc Launches Share Ownership Reform Proposals
ShareSoc has been campaigning for more rights for shareholders and we have now launched specific proposals on how we believe share trading should be reformed. In particular our proposals are aimed at tackling the loss of voting and other rights that currently arises from the use of stockbroker nominee accounts.
Our suggestions include:
The development of a new low cost electronic trading facility as recommended by the Kay Review, and ...
A YouTube video on shareholder rights
Post Date: January 6, 2015
The latest initiative in the ShareSoc campaign to improve shareholder rights is a video. In it I explain why shareholder democracy is important and how it has been totally undermined by the nominee system now in general use. Instead of you acquiring the rights of an owner of the business when you buy shares, those rights have been diverted and purloined by the nominee operator or stockbroker. This is simply wrong!
That is why ShareSoc has been campaigning for change under the ...
Better Finance comments on the EU Shareholder Rights Directive
Post Date: December 5, 2014
Better Finance, a representative body for European shareholder associations, has issued a press release commenting on the review of the Shareholder Rights Directive. It points out a number of defects in the proposals. Here are extracts from the press release:
"Guillaume Prache, managing director of Better Finance has stressed that many individual shareholders of EU companies will still have to pay high fees to exercise their voting rights across borders within the EU. If the internal market for capital is to carry ...
Vanguard backing shareholder committees
Post Date: December 5, 2014
According to a report in the Financial Times this morning, Vanguard is to promote the idea of "shareholder liaison committees" to improve corporate governance. This is of particular significance because Vanguard is one of the largest investment groups in the world and overtook Pimco last year to become the second largest fund manager. Vanguard primarily runs low cost index tracker funds and therefore has to hold all major companies. Indeed they are one of the largest holders of shares in many ...
BP and Shell facing climate change resolutions
Post Date: December 3, 2014
Both BP and Shell are likely to face resolutions at their next AGMs which will raise the issue of climate change. A coalition of investment groups including ShareAction and the Local Authority Pension Fund (LAPF) are looking for signatories to a requisition for a resolution to require more reporting by these companies on various aspects of their approach to carbon reduction and emissions management. See http://www.lapfforum.org/news/co-filers-sought-for-2015-shell-and-bp-agm-resolutions for more information.
Comment: Some investors feel that the Annual Reports of such companies are already ...
ShareSoc Welcomes BG Group Decision but calls on Sir John Hood to Resign
Post Date: December 1, 2014
ShareSoc is delighted by today’s news that BG Group has decided to withdraw the conditional share award that was proposed for new CEO Helge Lund. This is a good illustration of active shareholders being able to influence corporate policy and restrain abuses.
However, today’s announcement, including acceptance by Mr Lund of the revised terms, clearly demonstrates that the original proposal was excessive and unwarranted. It is obvious that insufficient consultation with shareholders had been conducted before the proposed package was announced, as ...
Progress on the Kay Review
Post Date: November 16, 2014
Back in 2011 the Government commissioned Prof. John Kay to review the operation of UK stock markets. There were concerns about "short-termism" by investors, poor corporate governance in companies, excessive executive pay, lack of engagement by investors with companies, high investment charges and excessive intermediation in the investment chain. The resulting report was a very good analysis of the defects in the way the market operated and the recommendations in the report for change were generally accepted by the Government.
The Government ...
The Vote at Electra Private Equity
Post Date: October 20, 2014
Electra Private Equity have fought off an attack from Sherborne Investors Management. The latter wanted a change of directors and for the company to conduct a strategic review, but resolutions to remove three directors were defeated with over 61% of the votes cast against them.
The interesting aspect of this event was that over 81% of the votes in issue were actually voted. There was considerable debate last week at the meeting ShareSoc held on shareholder rights about the difficulty of getting ...
Shareholder Rights campaign launched
Post Date: October 18, 2014
Last week ShareSoc launched a campaign to improve shareholder rights with a meeting in London. It focussed on the problems associated with nominee accounts and the adopted legal requirement to replace paper share certificates with an electronic system in a few years time.
There was an impressive line-up of speakers at the meeting which included John Kay (author of the Kay Review and FT writer), Michael Kempe from Capita representing the ICSA Registrars Group, Peter Swabey from ICSA, John Lee (Lord Lee ...
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