ShareSoc News

ShareSoc AGM 2020 – Video recording

Please find below the recording of ShareSoc's 2020 AGM.

Press Release 114 : HM Treasury’s Call for Evidence re Review of UK Listing Rules

Press release 114 - Joint Press Release from ShareSoc & UKSA on behalf of individual investors: HM Treasury’s Callfor Evidence re Review of UK Listing Rules ShareSoc and UKSA recommend: AIM should be regulated by the FCA, not the LSE. Do not relax standards in the UK. We need to stop even more frauds, scams and scandals. Remove €8m limit in placings; and open up placings to all. The LSE has a poor track record on enforcement and is ...

UKSA and ShareSoc response to the IASB’s consultation on Business Combinations

On 31 Dec 2020 the UK Shareholders Association and ShareSoc submitted a joint response to The IASB’s Discussion Paper on Business Combinations – Disclosures, Goodwill and Impairment (DP/2020/1) Our key messages are: We support the Board’s overall objective of enhancing disclosure on acquisitions and their subsequent performance. Current disclosure is extremely unsatisfactory. As a result we agree with the Board’s preliminary views set out in paragraph IN9 with the modifications and qualifications set out in this letter. We would also argue that ...

FCA Consultation
Consumer Investments Market Call for Input
ShareSoc’s response

A ShareSoc News item by ShareSoc Director Cliff Weight In our response we highlighted: The need for the system as a whole, including regulation, to work better for consumers We welcome the clear recognition in the CFI’s Foreword that there is indeed a problem - that there are suitable and inexpensive products, but people do not use them enough. In addition, that firms are not generally keen to promote them and that progress is slower than the FCA would like. The market ...

ShareSoc Launches Woodford Campaign

A ShareSoc News item written by ShareSoc Director Cliff Weight Update 1, 19 Nov 2020, SHARESOC LAUNCHES WOODFORD CAMPAIGN  Our primary objectives are: to facilitate communication between Woodford investors to help Woodford investors seek compensation for their losses where possibe to ensure that those who contributed to those losses through action or inaction are held to account to bring about changes in the regulations and regulatory enforcement to ensure this type of scandal does not happen again We are pleased that several legal initiatives have ...

Law Commission Publishes Scoping Paper Re Nominees, etc

The Law Commission have this morning published their scoping paper following their Review of Intermediated Securities. Here are the links Executive Summary (16 pages) Scoping Paper (201 pages) ShareSoc welcome the Law Commission report which clearly highlights the inadequacies of the current system. For far too long the rights of individual shareholders have been ignored. It looks like progress is about to be made. UKSA have commented 'Having looked more closely at both reports, they represent an excellent piece of work by the Law Commission. ...

Progress For SVS Clients

Since our last report on the situation for clients of failed broker SVS Securities, I am pleased to report that there have been significant positive developments. Firstly, ITI Capital has been in contact with ShareSoc and appears willing to work with us to ensure a satisfactory resolution for former clients of SVS. This is a very positive development. According to this news report the FCA has been monitoring the situation too. It is good to hear that the FCA has been fulfilling ...

Stamp Duty review: ShareSoc-UKSA submit joint response to HMRC

A ShareSoc News Item written by Cliff Weight, ShareSoc Policy Director. We have today, 13 Oct 2020, submitted this response to HMRC. Our response is limited to Stamp Duty on shares and OEICS (unit trusts). Our analysis is that: The original rationale for stamp duty (cost of wax seal etc) is not just of historical interest. In this age of electronic transactions, these costs are no longer incurred and there is therefore the original justification for the charge is no longer valid. Stamp Duty ...

Capital Gains Tax review: ShareSoc-UKSA submit joint response to Office of Tax Simplification

A ShareSoc News Item written by Cliff Weight, ShareSoc Policy Director. We have today, 12 Oct 2020, submitted this response to the OTS, CGT-call for Evidence.  Our response is limited to CGT on shares and OEICS (unit trusts). Our analysis is that: CGT is complex. CGT needs to be simplified. CGT is unfair to individual investors in shares versus collectives. CGT inhibits effective risk management. We want to make CGT: Fairer Easier to work out Easier to administer Easier to collect. In detail, we have 3 ...

FRC new report on AGMs and best practices

A ShareSoc News article written by Cliff Weight, Director This is an excellent report. The FRC appear to have taken on board many of the points we raised. I particularly liked the recommendations that investors provide their email address to the company/registrar to facilitate communication; and the description of the purpose of the AGM- The Annual General Meeting (AGM) is an essential governance event for companies and their shareholders. It should provide transparency, accountability and integrity, to company governance and decision-making. It is ...

SVS Special Administration: a Scandal in the Making

I have written previously about the collapse of brokerage SVS Securities, here: https://www.sharesoc.org/blog/insolvency-and-administration/an-update-on-svs-securities/ and here: https://www.sharesoc.org/blog/brokers/another-update-on-the-svs-special-administration/ Since my last post on this topic, things have gone from bad to worse. Not only has the transfer of assets from SVS to a new broker taken an inordinate amount of time, but the choice of broker to receive those assets seems questionable, to say the least. This debacle has been covered by press articles, here: https://citywire.co.uk/wealth-manager/news/svs-client-fury-as-new-broker-fails-to-return-278m/a1390644 and here: https://www.ftadviser.com/your-industry/2020/08/14/svs-clients-plagued-by-delays-at-new-broker/ More recently, ShareSoc has been contacted ...

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 ...