ShareSoc News

Small shareholders renew bid to make RBS a better run company

Press release 108 - Small shareholders renew bid to make RBS a better run company RBS Shareholders Requisition Shareholder Resolution for a Shareholder Committee. Over 100 shareholders in the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) have requisitioned a resolution to install a "Shareholder Committee" at the company, which will include shareholder representatives, to improve the corporate governance and shareholder engagement at RBS. RBS will now have to put this proposal to a vote at their Annual General Meeting (AGM) in May 2019. ShareSoc ...

ShareSoc and UKSA’s joint response to the FCA consultation on Illiquid Assets

ShareSoc and UKSA’s joint response to the FCA consultation on Illiquid Assets is available here

Response to Illiquid Assets Consultation cp18-27

Today, 17 December 2018, ShareSoc and  the UK Shareholders Association  submitted to the FCA a joint response on behalf of individual investors to this consultation. The key points we made were: UKSA and ShareSoc represent the 5 million people who own shares and have investment accounts with platforms in the UK. We represent the individual investors who own 12% of the UK stock market: they own 30%, if you include their investments via funds, pensions, etc. Our view is that better labelling of these ...

New FCA consultation on CFDs – Request for help

by Cliff Weight, Director, ShareSoc The FCA have launched a new consultation on CFDs and “retail derivatives”: https://www.fca.org.uk/publications/consultation-papers/cp18-38-restricting-contract-difference-products-sold-retail-clients-and-discussion-other-retail  We are circulating this to members to see if anyone has specific experience and competence to be able to respond – and is willing to help. The FCA have asked 17 specific questions. Our approach to consultations is to only answer those questions where we have particular knowledge.  We usually write a covering letter highlighting our views about the key issues and then give the answers ...

FRC Slides 3 Dec 2018, How to Complain and Appeal for Volunteers

I have received this feedback from the FRC "Thank you very much for rounding up a great audience on Monday, we are very pleased with how the event went. Please find attached the slides and feel free to circulate them to attendees." So, here are the slides. Lifting the Lid Event Slides - 3 December 2018 The FRC stressed they want to hear our complaints about companies and auditors. If you have a complaint then send it to the FRC complaints email oversight@frc.org.uk. If you wish to ...

PWC and the future of audit

We have been contacted by PWC about the future of audit. The letter below from Hilary Eastman at PWC to Peter Parry explains the background.  Please do access the on-line platform and send comments in. There are only a handful of questions and it is quick to do. www.pwc.co.uk/futureofaudit   More importantly, you will see that PWC is organising a number of engagement events around the country. Please send your name to the ShareSoc office info@sharesoc.org  if you would like to attend one of these ...

Lord Lee of Trafford appointed Patron of ShareSoc

Press release 107 - Lord Lee of Trafford appointed Patron of ShareSoc ShareSoc, the UK's premier member organisation for individual investors, is delighted to announce that Lord Lee of Trafford has been appointed as Patron of the society with effect from today. Lord Lee, who writes as John Lee in the Financial Times, is a respected investor, proclaimed as Britain's first ISA millionaire. In 2013 he released a financial autobiography entitled "How to make a million – slowly". He encourages individual share ownership and ...

ShareSoc-UKSA Resolution for the RBS 2019 AGM

ShareSoc has advocated the implementation of Shareholder Committees since our inception in 2011. ShareSoc has submitted resolutions to previous RBS AGMs requesting the implementation of an RBS Shareholder Committee. WE NOW NEED YOUR HELP WITH THIS YEAR'S CAMPAIGN Please sign the correct form if you own RBS shares. You can find instructions for doing so here: https://www.sharesoc.org/rbs-agm-2019-requisition/ Or, if you don’t currently own RBS shares but wish to support our campaign, then we can give you 1 share and then you can sign the ...

UKSA / ShareSoc policy papers, submissions and campaigns

Since we began merger discussions, UKSA and ShareSoc have worked together on policy and campaigning issues. Below is a list of issues where we have made a significant input. This shows the wide number of areas where we have been active since 1st January 2017 (Updated 25th October 2018). Date Document Recipient Drafted by Notes December 2018 (Started Dec 2016) RBS Shareholder committee campaign RBS/Media ShareSoc (CW) Supported by UKSA November 2018 Procurement of Audit services (Kingman Part II) Sir John Kingman PP with CW Joint submission from UKSA and SS October  2018 Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) consultation ...

Consultation Response: Competition and Markets Authority re Statutory Audit Market Study

UKSA  and ShareSoc made a joint response to this consultation. The key points we made were: We believe that there is competition in the market for audit services, although in the case of FTSE 100 companies, market competition is limited - wider choice and more competition would be beneficial. Nonetheless, competition does not necessarily lead to improved quality which is the main concern about audit at present. We believe that the main problem lies in the way in which audit services are procured. We ...