Beaufort (BFG)

Beaufort (BFG)

Blog posts

Stopping Another Beaufort Case

Readers are probably aware of the administration of stockbroker Beaufort, how PwC are running up enormous bills to the disadvantage of creditors and how they also claimed to be able to charge the bills against client assets under the Special Administration Rules. See here for more information if you are not familiar with this debacle: https://www.sharesoc.org/campaigns/beaufort-client-campaign/ I hope all stock market investors have already written to their Members of Parliament on this topic, not just to get the Special Administration Rules changed ...

Protecting Yourself Against Administrations

Investors now know that when your stockbroker goes into administration, your assets are not secure (or “ring fenced” as your contract with them often says) because they can be seized under the Special Administration Regulations by the administrator to pay their costs. This has become clear from the Beaufort case. That means many investors are facing losses because Beaufort client accounts, like most stockbroking accounts now, were nominee accounts with the shares registered in the name of Beaufort. There are two possible ...

Beaufort Administration, Intercede and the Mello Conference

Yesterday I attended the first day of the 2-day Mello investor conference in Derby. There were lots of good presentations and some interesting companies to talk to. One hot topic of conversation was the collapse of Beaufort which was forced into administration (see two previous blog posts on the topic for details). There are apparently many people affected by it. There are a number of major issues that have arisen here: The administrators (PWC) have suggested it might cost as much as ...

Beaufort and the Regulators: US Prosecutors Expose Wide Ranging Scam

News began to emerge yesterday of problems at broker Beaufort Securities. Firstly, the FCA posted this RNS stating that brokerages Beaufort Securities Limited and Beaufort Asset Clearing Services Limited had been placing into insolvency, must cease all regulated activities, and that administrators had been appointed who would seek to protect client assets. Not long after, this indictment by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) came to light, alleging market manipulation in the US by Beaufort Securities and the individual Peter Kyriacou. ...

ShareSoc News

Law Commission Review of Intermediated Securities Consultation

I am writing to ask you to: Send me examples and evidence we can use in our submission; Consider making a personal submission yourself; and to Update you on this important issue. Submissions to The Law Commission Call for Evidence on the subject of dematerialisation, intermediated securities, shareholder rights and nominees/platforms must be made by 5 November. The Law Commission “scoping” study will provide an accessible account of the law. It will also identify the corporate governance and other legal issues associated with ...

Beaufort Client Campaign: Update 5

It has been several months since our last update. In that time, we understand that almost all Beaufort clients have had their assets returned by the special administrator, PwC. Please let us know if you still do not have access to your assets and we will do our best to assist and expedite the process. Full members of ShareSoc can post comments or questions on discussion forums, here: https://www.sharesoc.org/forums/forum/beaufort-campaign/ We are still pursuing HM Treasury, in an effort to have the Special Administration ...

Beaufort Client Campaign: Update 4

Following much hard work by the creditors' committee, PwC has now drafted an official distribution plan, in line with our previously stated understanding. Full details of the plan can be found here: https://www.pwc.co.uk/services/business-recovery/administrations/beaufort/distributions.html It was approved by the creditors' committee on 13th July and by the Court on 26th July. I attended the court hearing - more on that later. It is anticipated that the vast majority of client assets will be transferred to another broker in September, without loss or costs payable by ...

Warning to Beaufort Clients

It has come to ShareSoc’s attention that certain claims management companies (CMCs), may approach Beaufort clients, offering to help you recover your assets. We would advise extreme caution if you receive such an approach. The latest information from PwC, as agreed by the creditors’ committee, can be found here: https://www.pwc.co.uk/services/business-recovery/administrations/beaufort/latest-news-and-update.html As you can see from that statement (and the plan summary referred to by it), all bar fewer than 10 individuals with accounts that include cash in excess of £400,000, will have the costs ...

Beaufort Client Campaign: Update 3

We are delighted to announce that PwC and the FSCS have substantially improved the plan for returning assets to clients of Beaufort Securities. Details of the new proposals can be found here: https://www.pwc.co.uk/services/business-recovery/administrations/beaufort/latest-news-and-update.html Whereas the original plan stated that the administration may take up to four years and that 700 accounts with a value > £150,000 could suffer losses of up to 40%, in order to fund administration costs PwC now state: "Fewer than ten retail clients will face any costs exposure at ...

Act Now to Protect Your Assets!

We hope that, by now, you have read about the threat to all your broker accounts, including ISAs and SIPPs, that the events at Beaufort Securities exposes, which has been widely reported in the press (e.g. see this article in the Sunday Telegraph: www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2018/05/26/fbi-sting-picasso-scam-collapse-beaufort-could-destroy-trust/ ). If not, please visit our campaign page for a full explanation. Now is the time for you to act, to protect your own interests and remove the threat that an administrator could raid your accounts to recover ...

Protect your rights, act now!

This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to regain the rights and protections that you have lost as a result of the nominee account system. I urge you to act now by raising this issue at AGMs and writing to your MP, as suggested below. Probably the most important ShareSoc campaign is the Shareholder Rights campaign, launched in October 2014 to gain full rights for ALL shareholders. Individual shareholder rights have been eroded, particularly by the nominee account mechanism and the way that platforms and ...

Beaufort Client Campaign: Update 2

Campaign co-ordinator Nandish Haria and ShareSoc Director Mark Lauber attended last week's meeting for creditors and clients of Beaufort Securities (BSL)and Beaufort Asset Clearing Services (BACSL). The meeting was organised by Administrators PwC and took place on May 10th. Nandish has prepared detailed notes of the meeting, which you can download here: Notes of Initial Beaufort Client_Creditor Meeting 180510 These notes contain important information for clients of Beaufort, which the administrator disclosed at the meeting. As disclosed in our campaign update 1, a key campaign ...

Beaufort Client Campaign: Update 1

Campaign Status Our campaign was only launched one week ago, but has already generated a terrific response. We now have over 140 campaign members signed up. Unfortunately this has created a backlog of membership requests to process, so please bear with us if you have not yet heard back from us and accept our apologies for any delays. Thank you also for the generous donations to the fighting fund, which will help towards any legal costs that may be incurred defending Beaufort ...

ShareSoc demands fair treatment for Beaufort clients

Press Release 104 - ShareSoc demands fair treatment for Beaufort clients The liquidation of Beaufort Securities on the FCA's instruction is targeting the ring-fenced property of thousands of UK private investors, many of whom are now facing losses of up to 40% of the value of their holdings. The liquidator's proposals bring into question the whole system of regulatory and legal protection of investors in the UK. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) declared Beaufort Securities Limited (BSL) and sister company Beaufort Asset Clearing ...

ShareSoc Demands Investigation in Wake of Beaufort Securities Revelations

As part of our campaign to improve the AIM market,  ShareSoc Director Mark Bentley has today written to the Head of AIM inquiring what actions the AIM regulatory team is taking to investigate whether scams of the type alleged by US authorities have been conducted on the AIM market, which seems highly likely to us, and lies at the root of why we are seeking reform of AIM regulation. See this blog post for details of the allegations. Today's letter can be seen ...