ShareSoc News

FRC consultation on proposed revisions to the Audit Firm Governance Code – UKSA and ShareSoc draft response

UKSA’s policy team are drafting a reply, jointly with ShareSoc, to the FRC’s consultation on proposed revisions to the Audit Firm Governance Code see https://www.frc.org.uk/getattachment/1a453bac-671f-4375-a738-9d6fc7f73262/Consultation-Proposed-Revisions-to-the-Audit-Firm-Governance-Code-(August-2021).pdf. We believe audits are important to shareholders as they underpin their confidence and trust in their companies, management and the numbers they report. In relation to audits it therefore follows that the audit regulator’s requirements for audit firms’ governance is also important and we would like to provide our thoughts to the FRC on this. We ...
Post Date: October 14, 2021 Read more

Policy and Campaigns – Progress Update to 12 October 2021

Since June 14 (see https://www.sharesoc.org/sharesoc-news/policy-and-campaigns-progress-update-14-june-2021/  for previous update), ShareSoc's Policy and Campaigns' team have worked on:   Woodford Campaign: Leigh Day have submitted their claim. They now have 11,000 claimants and another 3,000 registered, but yet to sign their Leigh Day agreement. We held a very successful webinar on 30 Sept with 942 registrants. ShareSoc’s Woodford Campaign now has over 1,500 members, which enables us to lobby strongly for regulatory change and to hold to account those who have done wrong.  ...
Post Date: October 14, 2021 Read more

Woodford Campaign Update 7
7 October 2021

1. Leigh Day achieved a significant legal milestone and submitted their court proceedings against Link on 27 September. 2. 942 people registered for ShareSoc’s “Woodford: What Happens Next” webinar with 684 attending. This was our biggest webinar ever and possibly the biggest webinar of its kind. 3. Exclusive Special Offer for Campaign members (which came with free ShareSoc Associate membership). You can now Upgrade to FULL Membership, allowing you to watch recordings of Woodford webinars including “What Happens Next” and “What Went Wrong”. ...
Post Date: October 7, 2021 Read more

Improved Registration for ShareSoc Events

After many months of work behind the scenes, we are delighted to announce an improved and simplified process for registering for our online events. Whereas previously two steps were required to register, first registering via our website and then with Zoom, registration is now done in a single step. After submitting your details, you will automatically be registered with Zoom for the event you wish to attend. Zoom will then email you automatically with login details for the event. We recommend that ...
Post Date: October 5, 2021 Read more

Woodford: What Happens Next? – Webinar Report

This is an official ShareSoc News Item written by ShareSoc Director Cliff Weight. 942 registered for ShareSoc’s webinar with 684 attending. Wow! Our biggest webinar ever and possibly the biggest webinar of its kind. Also, we now have 1,465 members of our Woodford Campaign. With these sorts of numbers we can pack much more of a punch with the FCA, Government and Hargreaves Lansdown. The Campaign has socially responsible aims of making the investment world a better place. It very much fits in ...
Post Date: October 3, 2021 Read more

Leigh Day issue court proceedings against Link

Leigh Day issued court proceedings against Link on Monday 27 September 2021.  This is a huge step forward in getting compensation for the many thousands of unfortunates who lost money in Woodford’s WEIF funds. Leigh Day’s issuing of proceedings is a big milestone. We are concerned, however, that roughly only 5-10% of the 270,000 or so investors seem to have joined any claim so far. We urge all WEIF investors to join a claim. We believe that Leigh Day are streets ahead of ...
Post Date: September 28, 2021 Read more

ShareSoc response to Treasury UK Prospectus Regime Review Consultation

It looks like the €8m limit may be removed and also that it may become easier for individual investors to participate in fund raisings. In addition shareholder rights to prevent dilution will be strengthened. This consultation looks to be good news for individual investors. In our 10 page response to HM Treasury we said: We welcome this consultation paper. ShareSoc is a not-for-profit organisation with over 8,000 members. We represent the interests of 5 million individual shareholders and 12 million individual investors in the ...
Post Date: September 23, 2021 Read more

ShareSoc responds to Primary Markets Effectiveness Review

In our 9 page response we said: We welcome this consultation paper CP21/21. ShareSoc is a not-for-profit organisation with over 8,000 members. We represent the interests of 5 million individual shareholders and 12 million individual investors in the UK. We are members of Better Finance who, together with our sister organisations in other countries represent individual investors throughout Europe. We are also members of the World Federation of Investors. ShareSoc Chair, Mark Northway, is also Chair of the World Federation of Investors. Our members ...
Post Date: September 17, 2021 Read more

Dematerialisation of Shares – Certificates to be Abolished

There are in excess of 10 million investors who hold their shares in paper certificated form. So today's announcement by the Government is of interest. Lord Frost set out the below points about getting rid of paper share certificates today as part of a Brexit regulatory review. Dematerialisation of shares - Although the majority of shares are held in electronic form, a minority are held in paper form. It is more expensive and takes longer for holders of paper shares to trade them and there is ...
Post Date: September 16, 2021 Read more

Stock Market Investment Needs More TV Promotion

ShareSoc Patron Lord Lee is continuing his high profile campaign to get more mainstream coverage of investments and better financial education. The FT has a large article about these issues written by John Lee himself, see https://www.ft.com/content/2445a940-da11-4d08-8e4c-e5ad70d6b583 headed- Stock market investment needs more television promotion - Onerous rules limit broadcasters and hamper financial education John writes: There is widespread agreement that financial education in this country is lamentable. This manifests itself in so many ways, from the fact that many people just leave significant cash deposits ...
Post Date: September 14, 2021 Read more