Nominee Accounts

ShareSoc and UKSA Response to Digitisation Task Force Interim report

  In this article we highlighted the significance of the interim report issued by Sir Douglas Flint on behalf of the Digitisation Taskforce (DT) and our concerns about it.  After careful deliberation, ShareSoc and UKSA have now submitted this response to Sir Douglas. Special thanks are due to Mohammed Amin, who co-ordinated our joint response.  We express concern that the proposals in the interim report do not fulfil the DT’s terms of reference. In particular, they do not ensure that the rights of current ...

Mail, 14 March 2021, Extensive ShareSoc press coverage in Mail newspapers

Mark Northway, ShareSoc Chair, is quoted extensively in this article for new investors. The Mail on Sunday and Daily Mail is doing a good job at informing its huge readership about investing in shares and funds. Recent coverage includes https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/share-investing/article-9343095/What-rights-shareholders-companies-own.html https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/share-investing/article-9346497/How-invest-shares.html  https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/investing/article-9358297/YOU-power-make-firms-kinder-Heres-how.html The good news about Mail On Sunday and the Daily Mail is there is no paywall, IT'S FREE, so everyone can read their very informative articles, unlike the FT, Telegraph and Times. Also, the articles include links to the ShareSoc website so this may attract ...

Mail, 10 March 2021, Shareholder rights campaign featured on This is Money

ShareSoc's chairman Mark Northway wrote an exclusive article for This is Money on 10/03 highlighting the importance of shareholders exercising their rights. Click here to read the article in full.    

Law Commission Review of Intermediated Securities

The Law Commission has published a “scoping paper” on Intermediated Securities (See Reference 1 below). This might sound a pretty dry technical subject but the subtitle of the report asks the important question – it covers “Who Owns Your Shares?” I have written about the problem of the growth in the use of nominee accounts as on-line platforms have replaced share certificates many times in the past. ShareSoc has a web page with voluminous information on this subject including reports written by ...

Update #11, 5 Aug 2020 – Sirius Legal Judgment Published and Implications for Law Commission Review

The judgment of The Hon. Mr Justice Fancourt in the matter of Sirius Minerals plc Court Hearing of 13 March 2020 has now been published and makes reference to ShareSoc's submission, in several places, with paras 5 and 6 being the most important. 5. I have read letters from Mr Cliff Weight of the UK Individual Shareholders Society (ShareSoc). The concerns that he expresses are that the vote at the meeting that agreed to accept the offer of 5.5 pence per share ...

Brexit and Why Shareholder Votes Matter

Last night Brexit got done. We exited the EU after 47 years. But we will need to resume the conversation to secure a trade deal. That still leaves room...

The Times, 30 Nov 2019, How Fund Bosses Use Your Votes

ShareSoc member and former chairman Roger Lawson says: “The nominee system needs a total rewrite to reflect modern reality and restore shareholder democracy.” See https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/fund-bosses-come-clean-on-how-you-use-our-votes-vb609kqhh

Shareholder Rights and Nominee accounts – Update and letter to BEIS

Our relationships with key opinion formers continue to grow. Peter Parry, Mike Dennis, Mark Bentley and I had a very useful meeting with BEIS on 8 Jan and at their request I have written explaining why the Minister should now act on the nominee account issue. A copy of my letter of 18 Feb is below. (The reason for the long delay in writing this letter was due to illness. It was delayed due my trip to Cambodia and Vietnam, and then ...