interactive investor calls for UK firms to improve shareholder communications
According to ii, even more retail investors would engage with their shareholdings if their shareholder communications were written “in plain English”.
In a ‘Dear CEO' style letter, the investment platform wrote to FTSE 100 chairs and the UK's 20 most held investment trusts by value to warn that it will be shining a light on their shareholder communications and will be calling for improvements.
The ii ‘AGM Experience' scorecard will measure how well FTSE 100 companies and the most popular investment trusts engage with private investors in the lead up to, during, and immediately after annual general meetings.
Companies will be assessed across four distinct sub-categories as part of the assessment process: transparency, communication, user experience and ‘going above and beyond'.
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Financial services consultancy the lang cat, which partnered with interactive investor to create the methodology, will be conducting the research on ii's behalf. It has been peer reviewed for relevance and fairness by ShareSoc and UK Shareholders Association, ii said.
The scorecard, which will be published regularly, will identify companies that could improve, but will also celebrate good practice, highlighting which companies are going above-and-beyond in a particular aspect of engagement, and encourage all firms to continue to make changes.
According to the platform, even more retail investors would engage with their shareholdings if their shareholder communications were written «in plain English». This comes at a time when the government is looking to boost ownership of UK shares.
Richard Wilson, CEO at interactive investor, said: «With the clock ticking on Consumer Duty, it
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