Regulations and Law

Closet Indexing – Update

This is a personal blog by ShareSoc Director Cliff Weight and does not necessarily represent the views of ShareSoc. I have been concerned about Closet Indexing for some time. As have many others, eg https://www.sharesoc.org/blog/general-news/closet-index-trackers-are-you-paying-over-the-odds/ https://www.sharesoc.org/blog/general-news/closet-index-trackers-investigations-in-progress/ https://www.sharesoc.org/blog/collective-investments/closet-indexing/ I met with executives from the FCA on 26 July to discuss our concerns. I have also had several conversations with David Rankin from Punter Southall. The latest news is that Harcus Parker have now starting gathering claimants for a class action against Scottish Widows. They have said- Harcus Parker ...

Redcentric Shareholders to Get Their Day in Court

This article represents the views of its author, not necessarily those of ShareSoc. Four years after defects in the published accounts of Redcentric plc (RCN) came to light, a trial of those accused of false accounting and other offences is finally to take place. Law360 reports: ...Fraser Fisher, former chief executive of Redcentric PLC, and the company's ex-chief financial officer, Timothy Coleman, denied charges that they had falsified financial documents and lied to an auditor between 2015 and 2016 when they appeared at ...

ShareSoc Woodford Legal Claim Webinar

Former ShareSoc Chair Roger Lawson attended the Woodford Webinar and gives his view below. I watched the ShareSoc webinar last night covering the legal claims over the collapse of the Woodford Equity Income Fund (WEIF). I never personally held any of the Woodford funds but from past experience of other similar big legal claims it was of some interest. With as many as 270,000 investors in WEIF affected it must be one of the most discreditable events in the financial world in ...

Grant Thornton Fined Trivial Amount over Patisserie Valerie Audits

The views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of ShareSoc. The interesting news today, at least for a former shareholder in Patisserie Holdings (CAKE) as I am, was the announcement by the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) of fines on Grant Thornton and their Audit Partner over the defective audits of the company in financial years 2015, 2016 and 2017. The company subsequently collapsed in 2018 when it became apparent that the accounts were a work of fiction. This is ...

The FCA awakes?

This is a personal blog by ShareSoc director Cliff Weight and does not necessarily reflect the views of ShareSoc. There is an excellent article in the Mail on Sunday today by Jeff Prestridge who is our key note speaker at the ShareSoc Woodford Webinar on 30 September - What happens next. click here to register  In today's article Jeff highlights that "the City regulator – the Financial Conduct Authority – has finally woken up from its lockdown slumber and decided to go all ...

Scrapping Share Certificates and Clive Sinclair Obituary

This article represents the views of its author and not necessarily those of ShareSoc The Government is to push ahead with the scrapping of paper share certificates. An announcement yesterday by Lord Frost included this in a bonfire of regulations which also included plans to scrap driving licences (i.e. making them digital only). The dematerialisation of shares was long ago committed to by an EU directive with no new paper certificates to be issued by 2023 and all existing ones replaced by ...

The Times , 23 August 2021, Ludicrous rules prevent TV educating viewers about stock markets, says Lord Lee

ShareSoc Patron Lord Lee is quoted in the The Times, 23 August 2021, in an article about the ludicrous rules that prevent TV from educating viewers about stock markets. Lord Lee is urging the government to look at financial and broadcasting regulations that effectively restrict mainstream television from producing valuable educational and informative programmes about investment. Lord Lee has tabled a parliamentary question.  “To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will meet (1) representatives of the major television channels, (2) the Financial Conduct Authority, and ...

KPMG fined again: but not the audit function this time!

This is a personal blog by Cliff Weight, ShareSoc Director and does not necessarily reflect the views of ShareSoc. This is so shocking that I am simply blogging the FRC announcement. My only comment is to highlight the glacial speed of such investigations. It has taken 10 years to get this far. The deterrent value of the £13 million fine would have had far more impact if the case had been concluded in two years! ShareSoc continues to lobby the FRC, FCA, ...

Changes to KIDs Proposed by the FCA

Yet another public consultation issued by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in mid-summer is one on KIDs (Key Information Documents). This is relevant to private investors and is designated CP21/23 – see link below. KIDs are imposed and regulated under the PRIIPs regulation as devised by the EU for packaged investment products such as funds and trusts. KIDs give basic financial information, risk indicators and likely future performance based on past performance. Those who purchase investment trusts for example will be asked ...

FCA Primary Markets Effectiveness Review – would you like to contribute?

ShareSoc Blog by Cliff Weight, Director (Pronouns: He/his/his).   Please note these are my personal views and not necessarily those of ShareSoc. I have received the request below about a subject dear to my heart and hopefully of other members. If you are willing and wanting to contribute please contact us with your name and contact details and I will organise a meeting with the FCA about this. It is good news that the FCA is reaching out in this way to seek ...

FCA, AFMs, ACDs, High fees for inappropriate products, Closet indexers

By Cliff Weight, Director, ShareSoc. These are my personal views and do not necessarily reflect the views of ShareSoc. The FCA has published two reports in a week that highlight the historic failings of the fund management industry and are hugely critical. According to Wealth Manager "In a damning report, the watchdog said fund houses have failed to properly assess the value of their funds." see https://citywire.co.uk/wealth-manager/news/asset-managers-can-t-explain-why-funds-offer-value-fca-says/a1527497 It is a good report with many sensible suggestions. It should have been done 5 years ago immediately ...

ShareSoc Patron Lord Lee Parliamentary Question about Bacanora take-over

The background is that ShareSoc was approached by the Bacanora Lithium Shareholder Action Group which is being run by Dee Patel who asked for ShareSoc’s assistance. We have helped them in explaining some key issues in how to run a campaign, how to obtain the shareholder register, problems with voting nominee shares, etc. We also thought whether a takeover would be in the UK public interest issue. We drew this to the attention of ShareSoc Patron Lord Lee, who has now tabled ...