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Charles Stanley Halts Certificated Dealing

Charles Stanley, one of the larger traditional retail stockbrokers, has advised its clients that it will soon cease support of certificated trading. Those retaining paper share certificates because they appreciate the rights associated with being on the share register of a company will be moved into nominee accounts, unless they choose to transfer their business elsewhere. We have updated the page on the ShareSoc web site which lists alternative suppliers of certificated dealing and personal crest accounts which is here: brokers One advantage ...

Bank Base Rate Cut to Record Low, and More QE

The Bank of England has cut base rate to 0.25% today, from 0.5%, following a recommendation by the Monetary Policy Committee. In addition there will be more Quantitative Easing (QE) including the purchase of both Government debt and corporate bonds. These measures are aimed at avoiding a recession that Mark Carney otherwise believes is likely. The new interest rate is yet again a new historic low in UK interest rates, and of course bodes ill for savers even if it may keep ...

Emotion on Brexit Driving Investment Decisions?

The Daily Telegraph led its business section with a headline "Brexit vote led to biggest fund exodus on record" this morning. It reported that the referendum result caused the sharpest stock market fund sell off on record, apparently caused by private investors becoming "too emotional" over the vote. Investors in stock market funds sold a record £3.5bn from their portfolios in June in data reported by the Investment Association. However the press release issued by the Association also indicated that funds under ...

Investment Association Tackles Executive Remuneration

The Investment Association represents institutional investors. Last week (on 26/7/2016) their Executive Remuneration Working Group issued ten recommendations for how to "rebuild trust in pay". They claim to have consulted 360 investors, asset owners and company employees before producing their final report. One of their objectives is to simplify pay structures while improving the alignment of the interests of directors with those of shareholders. It is widely acknowledged that the pay of directors of public companies has got out of hand and ...

The Unacceptable Face of Capitalism – BHS and National Grid

The extraction by Sir Philip Green of £300m from BHS, which led to the business going into decline and leaving the company pension scheme under-funded before he sold it for a £1 to an unqualified chancer was strongly criticised by a select committee of the House of Commons yesterday. To quote from their report: "The tragedy is that those who have lost out are the ordinary employees and pensioners. This is the unacceptable face of capitalism". This echoes the comments of Ted ...