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RBS Shareholder Event on 31 July

Post Date: July 26, 2017

I am looking forward to the RBS Shareholder Event on Monday 31 July in London. RBS had dropped regular shareholder briefings, but, following our shareholder committee campaign, have now reinstated...

The VCT Investors Group Campaign

Post Date: July 26, 2017

A university academic has just joined the VCT Investors Group and he emailed me with this interesting story and commentary, which other readers might find of interest…. As you...

TD Direct & the FCA – Update

Post Date: July 18, 2017

There have been further developments since my original blog post, on the topic of changes to TD Direct's client monies policy, which cause me to re-examine the issue and its implications. Firstly, I am pleased that Interactive Investor, TD Direct's new owner, have responded to my post, as follows: Interactive Investor’s primary responsibility is the security of a client’s data, cash and assets. Current FCA rules state that client money must not be placed out on unbreakable deposits of more than 30 days. ...

Help Improve Annual Reports

Post Date: July 17, 2017

As the leading organisation representing individual investors, ShareSoc is called upon by the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), to assist with their research on investor requirements. The FRC is the official body tasked with supervising the accounting profession in the UK, setting accounting standards and codes of practice for corporate governance. Their Financial Reporting Lab has asked for our help in obtaining feedback from our members in its project to research the usefulness of the current "principal risk and viability disclosures" in the ...

Our Risk, Their Gain: TD Direct & the FCA

Post Date: July 9, 2017

Thursday last, I was somewhat shocked to receive the following missive from one of my brokers, TD Direct (now owned by Interactive Investor): The key paragraph is this: To ensure we maintain our ability to appropriately diversify client money across highly rated, strongly capitalised banks, our regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has given us, and other similar firms, permission to deposit some of our client monies in fixed term deposits for up to 95 days. This is a change to the current ...