Watch out FRC - there’s a new Guv’nor in town

One of our members – Tony Johnson – who is a Chartered Secretary and longstanding member of ICSA, has brought to my attention ICSA’s planned rebranding to become “The Chartered Governance Institute”. See here for more details – https://www.icsa.org.uk/.

ICSA or, should I say, CGI, appear to be positioning themselves as the “go-to” organisation for good corporate governance. Here’s what their President, David Vernon, had to say recently in his letter to members:

“Over the last two years, your Council has been implementing a strategy to enable the international Institute and its Divisions to take full advantage of the worldwide focus on good governance. The significant revisions to the qualifying programmes, and the introduction of the new designation of Chartered Governance Professional and Affiliated Member have been part of that strategy.”

So, its surely just a matter of time before we see Company Secretaries changing their job titles – to “Company Governance Director”?

And David Vernon goes on to say in his letter:

“This (the rebrand and increased focus on corporate governance) is founded on the belief of Council that there is a great opportunity to build on the Institute’s technical strength, integrity and professionalism in qualifying Chartered Secretaries and Chartered Governance Professionals and to leverage this into being the leader in promoting good governance practice in a manner that our stakeholders will listen to, value and understand better.”

In Cliff Weight’s excellent recent blog (https://www.sharesoc.org/blog/regulations-and-law/the-quindell-story-and-the-frc/ ) about the need to break up the FRC he said :

“The Corporate Governance Code should never have been given to the FRC. They are accountants and not corporate governance experts.”

Perhaps ICSA/CGI would be a more appropriate owner of such guidelines? They certainly seem to be making noises in that regard.

But, would ICSA be any better than the FRC? We have to remember who pays their members’ salaries. Are they truly immune to corporate influence?

For those of our members who are also members of ICSA we would be interested to know your thoughts on this and any interesting snippets you may have picked up from the roadshow presentations that are about to happen to discuss the rebranding – dates and venues can be found here – https://www.icsa.org.uk/events/networking-and-cpd-events

Mike Dennis
ShareSoc Director

Post Date: June 22, 2018

Group description:	Our group is interested in sustainable investing and our goal is to identify and evaluate businesses that will thrive through innovation and their transition to a ‘One Planet Economy’. By leveraging the skills of group members, we aim to deeply understand these businesses, particularly focusing on how they develop long-term valuable benefits for their customers. Each year, we plan to evaluate around seven businesses to identify opportunities where our valuation exceeds the market price. A successful outcome is defined as achieving a compound annual growth rate (CAGR), including dividends, of 10% over a decade.
Meeting Type/Venue:	Meetings are in-person in a pub near to Waterloo station in London.
Meeting Frequency/Timing:	Meetings are bi-monthly on a Monday from 10:45am to 4:30pm. Members are expected to also pay for their own lunch which secures the group free use of a private room in the pub. The cost is expected to be £35-40 per person, per meeting, in addition to your SIGnet membership fee.

Group description:	SIGnet Taunton is a new group with around 10 keen members at present, with a range of investment styles and experience. We welcome new members.
Meeting Type/Venue:	In person meetings at a golf club near to the centre of Taunton.
Meeting Frequency/Timing:	We meet on the first Monday of every month at a golf club near to the centre of Taunton, 11am until 3pm with a lunch break.

Group description:	An online group for those who are new to investing, or have only been investing for a few years. Including topics such as: – What is a share or a bond, why and how to buy them. – Comparing funds, unit trusts, Investment trusts and exchange traded funds. – Portfolio management and diversification. – ISAs, pensions, SIPPS and how to save tax. – How terms such as PE ratio and dividend yield are used to value a share. – How to use technical analysis or charting.
Meeting Type/Venue:	Online using Zoom.
Meeting Frequency/Timing:	Meetings are usually held on the last Monday of the month at 7:00pm.

Group description:	An online group for those who already have some experience in investing. Covering topics such as finding companies to invest in, financial statements and ratios, valuation / margin of safety, analysis of companies and investment trusts and exchange traded funds.
Meeting Type/Venue:	Online using Zoom.
Meeting Frequency/Timing:	Meetings are usually held on the last Wednesday of the month at 7:00pm.

Group description:	The Equity Income Group welcomes investors of all levels of experience, from beginners to advanced. The focus of meetings is on dividend paying Investment Trusts, though there is also discussion around individual shares.
Meeting Type/Venue:	Meetings are held online.
Meeting Frequency/Timing:	Meetings are held every 6 weeks on a weekday between 7 and 8:30pm.

Watch out FRC – there’s a new Guv’nor in town

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Group description:	A welcoming group open to all types of investors. Typical meeting content is to have a deep dive presentation on a topic selected by the participants and a session on buy/ sell/ key lessons learnt last month.
Meeting Type/Venue:	In person at a friendly pub close to Piccadilly Circus
Meeting Frequency/Timing:	Monthly during the evening on the first Wednesday of the month.

Group description:	All levels of experience welcome. A typical meeting agenda includes: – Macro Environment – Trades: Members review existing positions and identify securities with promising TA entry patterns or setups and with suitable risk/reward. Any security, long, short, futures, options may be considered. The convener takes actual positions in trades and maintains his own detailed ledger, accurately measuring performance of individual securities and cumulative activity. Members are notified by e-mail prior to the entries or exits that are decided upon. Following each meeting an updated copy of the ledger is circulated together with the next meeting agenda. Members may wish to maintain similar ledgers of their own but there is no obligation to do so. – Technical Analysis: Techniques and systems used in trades. Members can request discussion of particular aspects of TA.
Meeting Type/Venue:	Online via Zoom
Meeting Frequency/Timing:	The first Tuesday of every month from 7 to 9pm

Group description:	Group focused on active investing, primarily in small / medium cap UK equities.
Meeting Type/Venue:	Regular Zoom meetings interspersed with occasional face to face meetings and social activities in the North West.
Meeting Frequency/Timing:	Monthly on Saturdays at 10am.

Group description:	Our group covers a wide spectrum of mainly stock market investing and trading from equities – which include shares, ETF’s Investment and Unit Trusts. We normally rotate the meeting chairperson (responsible for creating, with member’s help, suitable agendas) and a meeting presenter (members take it in turns to provide a 15 to 45 minute presentation on a subject of their choice). Various investing topics of interest are regularly discussed such as software, brokers, investing categories and markets and any related topics of interest.
Meeting Type/Venue:	Meetings will be returning to in-person in a private room at a West London golf club, close to an underground station. In the meantime monthly video calls and an in-between meeting email group will continue.
Meeting Frequency/Timing:	In-person meetings will be held on the second Wednesday of each month in the afternoons, following a golf club one course lunch.