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Best Execution is Not Always the Best

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) have undertaken a review of "best execution". This is a simple principle enforced as part of the FCA's Rule Book that requires your stockbroker to always obtain the best execution if you give them an order. That primarily means obtaining the best price where there are multiple markets on which the trade can be dealt but speed of execution, settlement terms and certainty of execution can also be taken into account. A stockbroker should be acting ...

Shareholders voting without knowing what for at Majestic Wine

Shareholders at Majestic Wine were given a proxy voting form that included two common resolutions - a vote on the Remuneration Report and a vote on Remuneration Policy. But there was no description of the Remuneration Policy in the Annual Report. As a shareholder in the company, I found this somewhat baffling and therefore voted against the second of those resolutions on the basis of not knowing what I might be voting for. The company subsequently withdrew those resolutions on the because ...

Active managers and Monks Investment Trust

The FT’s fund management supplement recently reported that “90% of UK active funds beat the market”. This headline might surprise you because historically it is known that active fund...

Controlling bankers – public consultation in motion

Controlling bankers is a key theme of a public consultation issued jointly by the Bank of England Prudential Regulatory Authority (PRA) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The proposals...

Delays in SIPP and ISA transfers

I commented on the delays in transferring a SIPP from Hargreaves Lansdown to another provider in the May ShareSoc Newsletter, and we published some letters from other members on similar problems in the June Newsletter. I thought readers might like to know that the original SIPP transfer has now finally completed. It actually took over 5 calendar months to get all the portfolio holdings to transfer (this being an "in-specie" transfer as it is called). This is clearly a quite ridiculous period ...