Who are Equiniti UK? Why / How did they get my details?

FlatFour

Hey all,

Hopefully this is the correct place for this post as it pertains to an investment.

I have some shares in abrdn plc (silly name) that I've had for quite some time.  These were "free" shares I got allocated ages ago, before they were abrdn plc, due to having other investment products with them at the time.

Today, I got a letter from a company called Equiniti UK - I've never heard of them - asking if I'd like *them* to sell my shares for me / buy more shares for me or sell my shares and gift all the proceeds to charity.  They charge 25p per share for this service, up to £50, seem somewhat excessive!

What's the deal here?  I've never been cold-contacted in this way before by a third-party about shares I own.  My cynical side thinks this company is cold-contacting people they *hope* are perhaps struggling and want to profit of *their* investment - basically taking advantage of people when they're already struggling.  Or if they're not struggling, profit (inflated) by broking purchasing more shares.  Just doesn't seem quite right to me.

Regardless of the reason, I find it really suspect that a company I don't know has all my details and contacts me in this way.  Surely they're not an official agent for abrdn plc right?

Just hoping I can gain some insight from members here.

Cheers.

Linton

Equiniti are a reputable financial services company, formerly part of Lloyds,  and most certainly are not cold-calling scammers. I believe they are the registrars for abrdn shares.  As such they undertake all the admin of managing the list of share-holders. I would guess your share holding is so small that the cost of administration makes it worth their while giving you the opportunity to dispose of the shares.

masonic

Equiniti are the share registrar for quite a large number of UK companies, including abrdn. It is expensive to use them, most people would hold their shares electronically through a discount broker so that they could buy and sell for a few pounds, or even for free. You may wish to consider transferring your shares into such a broker, which can normally be done at no cost.

I have no idea whether the person that contacted you was genuinely from Equiniti, or a scammer, but Equiniti would have your details because you are on the shareholder register that they maintain.

FlatFour

Thanks guys, with scams on the rise I'm perhaps a little more paranoid than usual.  I'm not quite as on the ball regarding investments as I once was, due to poor health, so things like this do concern me.

I had considered transferring the shares to a broker, but it was never really a priority.  It's only a small amount of shares, so my attitude was to leave it alone.

Again, thank you for putting my mind at rest.

steveksullivan

Echo both the above .... Equiniti are perfectly legit. and the communication  (whilst it could be from scammers....) is probably also legit.

I get similar communications from the registrars of all three of my (small) direct shareholdings every year .....!

One of these is Santander .....and their registrar is .....you've guessed it .... Equiniti !!!

FlatFour

I've literally had these shares for years, they were originally Standard Life (before the merger and name change) yet I've never had any contact from Equiniti before.  I'd get communications (typically yearly) directly from Standard Life now abrdn plc of course, but never by a third party like this.  I've been very hands-off with these shares, as they were free and not worth a great deal.

[Deleted User]

Hi,

have a read at THIS old thread.