For the past 3 years, The UK Shareholders’ Association has played a leading role in advising the Government, the Financial Reporting Council, the Financial Conduct Authority and other bodies on issues arising from the growth of pooled nominee accounts, in which close to a majority of private investors now find themselves.
We have relentlessly been drawing attention to the absence of shareholder rights and protections for nominee account users and their inability to play a full part in the stewardship of UK companies. The savings of countless ordinary individuals are at stake, invested in equities yet they are denied the rights of ownership. This is wrong.
We think this situation is scandalous, not least because it appears to be, in the developed world, a uniquely British problem. The time has come to demand changes to remedy these matters. Today we launch THE RUNNYMEDE DECLARATION FOR SHAREHOLDER RIGHTS. and invite those who share our concerns to give it their full support.
In not many months’ time, there will be a new government. It will have many matters to address, but, in the spirit of Magna Carta, we will press those who seek election to Parliament and those who enter that government, to place the remedies we are seeking high on their list of priorities. The millions who save and invest deserve no less.
