Shareholder Benefits - How to get them?

Phil

Hi all,

I am about to start my journey into the wonderful world of investing in shares and would like to clarify the position on shareholder benefits (attending shareholder meetings, getting discounts etc.).

I was considering Squaregain as the place to use for share purchases, so was checking their T&Cs. In the T&Cs, it says that:

Section 8- Beneficial Holdings
Client Investments
8.1. Securities either purchased using the service or transferred to us will be registered in the name of the Nominee and held on trust for you as part of an unallocated pool. Securities held in the pool are not distinguishable by individual client. This means that in the event of a default of a custodian, if there is a shortfall which cannot be reconciled, you may share proportionately in that shortfall. Although we accept responsibility for the acts and omissions of the Nominee as for our own acts and ommissions, this does not extend to other custodians appointed by us, unless any loss is a direct result of our fraud, willful default or negligence.

8.2. You will at all times remain the beneficial owner of your securities but you acknowledge that any shareholder incentive attached to your securities may be lost in the event of transfer to the Nominee. Except in the case of ISA or PEP accounts, voting rights on shares held by us will not be exercised on your behalf, nor will it be possible for you to attend company annual or extraordinary general meetings.

8.3. In the event of compulsory capital events such as cash dividends, conversions and consolidations, you will be notified of these changes and the resulting cash or securities will be credited to or debited from your Squaregain Ltd account.

8.4. You authorise us to round down your entitlement to the nearest whole number and agree that any fractional entitlements received that cannot be divided on a pro rata basis will be retained by us.

8.5. In the event of an optional capital event in relation to securities held on your behalf, we will use reasonable endeavours to notify you in order to obtain your instructions. However, we cannot be held responsible for any losses arising from that notification failing to reach you or our inability, due to circumstances beyond our control, to carry out your instructions. Where instructions are not received by the relevant deadline, we will proceed in accordance with the following default conditions:



Conversion No action to be taken
Entitlement (open offer) No action to be taken
Exercise of warrants No action to be taken
Installment payment Pay installment using cleared funds or direct debit
Redemption No action to be taken
Rights issue Allow nil paid stock to lapse and allocate any premium
Scheme of arrangement No action to be taken
Recommended offer Acceptance of the offer
Contested offer Acceptance of the offer when the offeror has acquired 90% of acceptances


8.6. We will collect dividends and other such entitlements and we will advise clients of corporate actions and take all reasonable steps to action such requests provided that we receive such requests at least 48 hours prior to the payment deadline, otherwise we will proceed as described above.

8.7. To the extent that a charge is levied for the custody services, these charges can be found on our charges schedule.

8.8. Please note that we may accept instructions from you in the manner specified in Section 6 (Communications).

This, to me, means that I don't get any of the ancilliary benefits of holding shares, such as voting rights etc - just the pure financial benefits/risks.

Are there any ways around this or any brokers/ways of purchasing shares that would mean I could get my rights as a shareholder that are not prohibitively expensive.

Thanks in advance for any help,

Phil

cheerfulcat

Hi, Phil,

You can deal in certificated form ( shares in your own name, not in a nominee account ) with Squaregain for an extra £10 per transaction. A sponsored Crest account gives the same benefits; I think that FasTrade do them.

HTH

Cheerfulcat

Phil

cheerfulcat wrote:

Hi, Phil,

You can deal in certificated form ( shares in your own name, not in a nominee account ) with Squaregain for an extra £10 per transaction. A sponsored Crest account gives the same benefits; I think that FasTrade do them.

HTH

Cheerfulcat

Thanks Cheerfulcat,

With the Squaregain certificate - I managed to find it on your website now you've tipped me off - do you know if this means I would get paper shares or merely that I am named as the shareholder rather than the nominee?

I'll look into the sponsored CREST account thing and FasTrade.

Thanks again,

Phil

cheerfulcat

Hi, Phil,

You should get a paper share certificate.

Phil

cheerfulcat wrote:

Hi, Phil,

You should get a paper share certificate.

Ooooh so I can hide it in a drawer like my gran to scare my relatives when they're trying to figure out if there is an inheritance tax issue and stumble across it. Cool.