share certs line how?

qwert10

Just had a share letter and it says that by Jan 2025 share certificates won't be valid and all holdings will be online, but gives no other details.

Anybody know what this will entail?

Thanks in advance!

Farway

qwert10 said:

Just had a share letter and it says that by Jan 2025 share certificates won't be valid and all holdings will be online, but gives no other details.

Anybody know what this will entail?

Thanks in advance!

Perhaps help us by naming the company?

boingy

All paper certs for all companies are being scrapped. If you do nothing they will be converted into electronic holdings in a nominee account. The upside of this is that they are easier to trade and transfer. The downside is that you might lose some of the shareholder rights such as voting etc, which probably doesn't bother most people.

Article here:

How to prepare for the scrapping of paper share certificates - Investors' Chronicle (investorschronicle.co.uk)

qwert10

Farway said:

qwert10 said:

Just had a share letter and it says that by Jan 2025 share certificates won't be valid and all holdings will be online, but gives no other details.

Anybody know what this will entail?

Thanks in advance!

Perhaps help us by naming the company?

It was bank of Ireland, but it says all UK shares!

qwert10

Boingy, so all shareholders lose ALL voting rights? Sounds terribly undemocratic, when it is being forced on people.

Hope you don't lose dividends too.

How will people who don't do ICT or have a computer work it?

qwert10

Sadly I can't read the article as it is subscribers only. The part I could read said shareholders must be proactive to PRESERVE some of their rights?????

boingy

Basically you have to move your electronic shares to a broker who does give nominee accounts voting rights and notifications of meetings etc. But when was the last time you voted or attended an AGM? I think most private investors are just not that bothered about such things as long as dividends continue to be paid, which they do regardless of which broker you use.

qwert10

well online it says there is mounting anger from shareholders who DIY and don't want the cost of using a broker and, in a supposed democracy being enforced to do so.

"the government proposes turning all certificated shares into ‘nominee shares’, which are held by an intermediary such as an investment platform or a broker. This means that you only have a beneficial interest in the securities and no direct relationship with the company, so don't automatically get communications or have the ability to take part in company votes and attend meetings. Not all platforms automatically let their customers know when a company in which they hold shares is holding a meeting, and nominee shareholders need a letter of representation from their platform to be able to attend that company’s meetings."

and: "And the government’s digitisation task force’s proposals don’t stipulate that platforms and brokers will have to maintain the shareholder rights of former paper certificate holders when they all become electronic. Many shareholders are deeply angry about how the legislation will trample over their shareholder rights.". Investors' Chronicle.

qwert10

But with the removal of their names from company registers, shareholders are no longer guaranteed to receive information from companies, invites to AGMs or notifications to vote, and they cannot requisition special meetings when things go wrong at a company.

wmb194

qwert10 said:

Farway said:

qwert10 said:

Just had a share letter and it says that by Jan 2025 share certificates won't be valid and all holdings will be online, but gives no other details.

Anybody know what this will entail?

Thanks in advance!

Perhaps help us by naming the company?

It was bank of Ireland, but it says all UK shares!

You mean you own certificated shares/CDIs in BoI that are listed in London? The original EU plan was to have all shares dematerialised in/by 2025 but I thought that the UK was behind schedule due to lots of issues and a date hasn't been set. It could be that things are a little different for certificated shareholders in an EU based company.

It isn't the end of the world, though. In my opinion share certificates are a liability plus these days there are plenty of brokers you can keep your shareholding with free of charge and have low or no dealing charges e.g., iWeb, X-o, T212, Freetrade.

boingy

It's really simple. If you are bothered about all that stuff then wait until the shares are in electronic format and then transfer them to a broker who offers all that stuff. If you are not bothered then do nothing and your shares will magically become electronic with no effort required.

Or you can get your pitchfork and go and join the angry mob. Of course the "mounting anger" that IC reports may just be a handful of noisy people on social media.