ShareSoc News

RBS Shareholder Committee Campaign: Update 15

RBS Shareholder Committee Campaign: Update 15 - Resolution has been accepted and is on the AGM agenda The Shareholders Circular and notice of the AGM was sent out on 18 March to all shareholders on the register, along with a copy of the annual report (only 267 pages this year), headed “Building a simple, safe and more customer-focused bank”. You only get a paper copy of the annual report if you asked for it. Those people who have invested in RBS shares via ...

FRC Reporting Lab survey of investors views of the topics they should review

Dear Member,  The FRC is doing a survey of investors views of the topics that the Reporting Lab should look at over the next few years. The link to the survey is: https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/labsurvey11/ Please do respond if you can; it should only take about 5  minutes to complete (I just did it and it took me 7 minutes but I wrote lots of comments). The FRC runs an excellent investor engagement programme of which the Reporting Lab forms an important part. The FRC is very ...

RBS Executive Pensions row as Board fails again to listen to its shareholders

Press release 109 - RBS Executive Pensions row as Board fails again to listen to its shareholders RBS has again failed to engage effectively with its shareholders, this time over Executive Pensions. As a result, the company finds itself yet again in the headlines, for the wrong reasons. RBS Shareholders’ concerns about lack of effective engagement are vindicated by yet another escalating row. ShareSoc and UKSA have requisitioned a resolution at the April 25th AGM to establish a Shareholder Committee, with the ...

FCA Consultation on proposals to improve shareholder engagement

In January the FCA issued a consultation paper CP19/7 Financial Conduct Authority Consultation on proposals to improve shareholder engagement. This was a technical consultation on how to implement the EU Shareholder Rights Directive II in relation to its Stewardship aspects. Today 27 March UKSA and ShareSoc made a joint response, on behalf of individual investors. We made a number of points, see below, with further background in an Appendix. We think this is important context to our response to the FCA consultation as ...

Proposed Revision to the UK Stewardship Code 2019

ShareSoc has made a joint response with UKSA  on behalf of individual investors to the consultation from the FRC on the revised Stewardship Code. We believe that the proposed revisions to the Stewardship Code are a sound attempt to make the Code more meaningful and to give it teeth. However, we have concerns that in some areas the Code is seeking to set expectations on which it will be very difficult to deliver and which could ultimately result in the Code becoming ...

ShareSoc and UKSA’s joint response to the FCA Consultation on proposals to improve shareholder engagement

ShareSoc and UKSA’s joint response to the FCA Consultation on proposals to improve shareholder engagement is available here.

RBS AGM Vote Recommendations from ShareSoc

Many members have enquired about how they should vote their RBS shares. Our RBS AGM Vote recommendations are shown below: Resolution 28. For. We have proposed this so clearly we support this resolution. Resolution 2. Remuneration report. Against. Reasons. CEO has pension of 35% salary. HSBC have reduced to 10%, so should Ross McEwan, RBS CEO. There is lots of press about this issue. RBS should listen to what is being said and act. Male CEO has bigger pension allowance than female FD (35% v. ...

ShareSoc and UKSA’s joint response to the FRC Consultation on the Corporate Stewardship Code

ShareSoc and UKSA’s joint response to the FRC Consultation on the Corporate Stewardship Code is available here.

VOTE FOR RBS AGM SPECIAL RESOLUTION 28 SHAREHOLDER COMMITTEE

RBS have now sent out the 2019 AGM circular to shareholders. This contains Resolution 28 requiring RBS to establish a Shareholder Committee, which was requisitioned by ShareSoc and UKSA members. If you own RBS shares, please vote for our resolution. Sadly, the RBS Board will be voting against our resolution and have recommended shareholders to vote against it. Their rationale (which is full of spurious reasons and illogic) is as follows: The concept of a shareholder committee was included in the Government’s Green ...

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 ...

Auditor appointments: ShareSoc+UKSA write to Minister Greg Clark

Today 18 Feb 2019, ShareSoc & UKSA have written to The Rt Hon Greg Clark MP, Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. We made three key points: Appointment of auditors by a third party with the relevant skills and expertise would, once and for all, break the current link of excessive dependency between auditors and those they audit. If, on a trial basis, the Regulator started by managing the appointment of auditors for FTSE 100 companies this would ...

FCA Sector Views- ShareSoc+UKSA response

The Financial Conduct Authority’s Sector Views publication provides its annual analysis of the changing financial landscape, the resulting impacts on consumers and market effectiveness. This analysis will feed into the FCA Business Plan 2019/20. Although the Sector Views are not a consultation, the FCA are interested in the views of stakeholders on its findings. ShareSoc & UKSA made a joint submission. The main points we made were: We are appalled that Sector Views fails to give sufficient weight to the damning criticisms of ...