Telegraph, 23 Feb 2021, How to use your broker to hold your investments to account

This blog gives you the latest topical news plus some informal comments on them from ShareSoc’s directors and other contributors. These are the personal comments of the authors and not necessarily the considered views of ShareSoc. The writers may hold shares in the companies mentioned. You can add your own comments on the blog posts, but note that ShareSoc reserves the right to remove or edit comments where they are inappropriate or defamatory.

The Telegraph wrote a useful article about AGMs and voting. see https://www.telegraph.co.uk/investing/shares/use-broker-hold-investments-account/

It was headed

How to use your broker to hold your investments to account

But the real story was in the byline – Stockbrokers require investors to jump through lots of hoops to register their vote.

It also explained the problems and quoted ShareSoc:

However, new investors might not know that owning company shares comes with part ownership of a company – and with it the right to vote on issues at their annual general meetings, or AGMs.

Investors can make their voice heard on far-ranging topics, from how much company leadership gets paid, to whether it pays a dividend or donates to a political party.

But fewer than 1pc of people actually take up their votes, according to ShareSoc, a non-profit organisation which represents the interests of shareholders in Britain.

Cliff Weight, of ShareSoc, said this was due to stockbrokers making it challenging for DIY investors to use their vote. Each broker has a different process for submitting votes.

The Telegraph article also included its guide on how to navigate the different broker processes.

More Information on Platform comparisons is in the ShareSoc Forum https://www.sharesoc.org/forums/topic/shareholder-rights/

Cliff Weight, Director, ShareSoc

One comment
  1. Michael Darbyshire says:

    My broker, Redmayne Bentley, actively encourages me to vote. I think I had to ask in the first place, but they facilitate it and remind me until I do so.

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