Equiniti ezine November 2012

EZINE > NOVEMBER 2012 INSIDE THIS ISSUE: UK'S BEST SHARE REGISTRAR Equiniti wins Best Shareholder Services Provider at the Shares Awards 2012 EMPLOYEE SHARE SCHEMES HMRC stats provide valuable basis for trend-spotting and forward planning ANOTHER AWARDS TRIUMPH Equiniti wins the CCA Gold Standard for the third consecutive year – find out why SAFEGUARDING PENSION DATA Duncan Stevens offers advice on complying with the regulators WEBCAST: EMPLOYEE BENEFITS PORTAL Stuart Bennett on a revolutionary approach to delivering employee benefits

SHARES AWARDS 2012 P2

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AWARDS

Client shareholders and investors have voted Equiniti the number one Share Registrar in the UK

BEST SHAREHOLDER SERVICES PROVIDER 2012 On Thursday 15 November, Equiniti was crowned Best Shareholder Services Provider at the Shares Awards 2012.

This is a great honour and reinforces our position as the number one Share Registrar of choice!

The event is one of the most widely watched benchmarks of excellence and innovation across the financial services community. These awards are particularly prestigious – each category award is voted for by investors and shareholders of client companies.

To win this award and earn a seal of approval from such a discerning audience is a tremendous achievement and one of which we are incredibly proud.

We would like to thank you our clients for your support. We work hard to listen to your feedback to ensure we maintain our high

service standards. Carrying out a 60-second survey twice a year and annual benchmarking enable us to listen to our clients, understand their shareholder needs and improve our services in line with your objectives.

“Everyone at Shares Magazine and MSM Media group would like to offer their congratulations to Equiniti Registrars for their thoroughly deserved victory in the Best Shareholder Services category of this year’s Shares Awards,” says Russ Mould, editor of Shares. ‘All nominees and winners in the financial services categories are based solely upon the votes of our readers. To earn and keep the custom of such a discerning audience in a highly competitive environment is an achievement in itself. To come out on top in a fiercely fought contest such as this is worthy of a trophy indeed and we are delighted to present Mark Taylor with this accolade.”

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FOR MORE INFORMATION Please contact your relationship manager EMPLOYEE SHAREHOLDING CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 3

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EMPLOYEE SHAREHOLDING

HMRC’s statistics on employee share schemes will help us speculate the future

THE OFFICIAL VIEW ON EMPLOYEE SHARE SCHEMES HM Revenue & Customs has just published national statistics covering approved employee share schemes (EMIs, CSOPs, SIPs and SAYE (Sharesave) schemes).

Covering the period up to 2010-2011, annual returns form the basis of these statistics, which are useful for quantifying past trend speculations, as well as tracking longer-term activity.

This latest report highlights the continuing effect of falling share prices on plans following the onset of the recession. Now that share prices are on the increase, we expect future data to reflect this positive turn of events.

Additionally, we welcome the re-launch of companies who previously suspended Sharesave.

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EMPLOYEE SHAREHOLDING Key findings of the report include: ■■ Despite

falls in share prices from 20072008, the number of companies with a taxadvantaged employee share scheme has remained broadly unchanged. Whilst there has been an increase in the number of companies with an EMI scheme, those with CSOPs, SIPs and SAYE schemes fell slightly.

SIP:

■■ The

number of SIPs peaked in 2006-2007 and has remained more or less static ■■ Since

2008-2009, partnership shares have been the most popular type of award – prior to that a higher value of Free shares had been awarded

years have seen a fall in the number of employees granted a Sharesave option, as well as a decrease in the initial value of those shares

estimated annual cost of income tax and national insurance relief has been similar since 2008-2009. This indicates that the cost of SIP has been less affected by the changes in the share price in recent years.

■■ There

■■ On

SAYE:

■■ Recent

were fewer options exercised in 2010-2011 (linked to an increase in the number of underwater option schemes)

■■ The

■■ The

number of CSOPs has been declining since 2000-2001. Those employees receiving a grant of options (and the value of shares over which options were granted), has fallen by roughly 90%. No doubt their diminishing use has driven the recent OTS recommendation to merge CSOP & EMI, as so few companies now grant options outside senior executive populations.

■■ Updated

EMI statistics will be released at the end of November 2012.

The full report can be found via this link.

balance, SIP has a higher number of awards in relation to employees, and when compared to Sharesave.

■■ Sharesave

awards have the highest value of all employee plans – nearly twice the value of SIP awards.

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CCA

Equiniti gains CCA Global Standard accreditation for the third year in row

EQUINITI SETS INDUSTRY STANDARD AT PRESTIGIOUS EXCELLENCE AWARDS Equiniti has been awarded the CCA (Customer Contact Association) Global Standard for the third consecutive year. Equiniti was also recognised for Most Effective Training Programme and Customer Service Complaints Team of the Year – out of more than 30 nominations, Equiniti featured in the top six.

On behalf of the CCA category judges, Joanne Seagrove says, “The award judges were extremely impressed! Equiniti should feel proud to be shortlisted in the top six for each category, as well as achieving our Global Standard accreditation again.”

When commenting on our training award submission, one of the judges said, “Equiniti provided an excellent explanation of their program and benefits … Equiniti design and adapt their training programs to the

individual and corporate needs.” Regarding the customer service complaints submission feedback concluded that, “…Equiniti had made fantastic improvements to their complaint measures and processes of the team.”

The training program devised by Equiniti for Contact Centre staff consists of a 9- week modular course. The first three weeks is classroom-based learning, followed by a stepped graduation process. This supports staff until they are ready for frontline call centre activity. Testament to this, over the past five years our complaint levels have reduced dramatically to 0.002% of transactional volume (2.2 million Contact Centre calls).

Sam Halford, Group Director of Operations commented: “This is an outstanding achievement as we continue to invest in our infrastructure and people to create a world-

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class environment. We have put in place a number of initiatives that have improved all areas of our service capability. These are now globally recognised, not only as an attainment benchmark, but also as an industry first.

We have a very strong and committed team within the Contact Centre who is proud of the achievements and is always striving for continuous improvement.”

FOR MORE INFORMATION Please contact your relationship manager DATA SERVICES/PENSIONS CONTINUED ON PAGE 5 6

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DATA SERVICES/PENSIONS

Managing Director of Equiniti Data Services, Duncan Stevens, discusses the importance of accurate data in light of pension reforms

SAFEGUARDING PENSION DATA The Pensions Regulator recently issued a data checklist to help trustees and administrators improve scheme recordkeeping. In compliance with the watchdog’s guidance, all scheme records created since June 2010 must have 100% of common data, for example name, address, date of birth and National Insurance number. Records prior to this date must exhibit 95% of common data.

With both targets to be achieved by the end of 2012, the checklist outlined key steps trustees must take in order to meet the requirements, including resolving systemic issues, discussing plans with the scheme administrator and identifying data scores.

Alongside the Regulator’s impending deadlines, the pensions sector has seen the recent introduction of auto-enrolment. “The recent legislative changes have been twofold,” explains MD of Equiniti Data Services, Duncan Stevens. “There has been a period of data consultation over the past two years in

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DATA SERVICES/PENSIONS

It used to be the customer’s responsibility to notify their provider. Now the balance is shifting and providers need to be more thoughtful of their customers. regards to data accuracy. Combine that with auto-enrolment, and accurate data processing is now more essential than ever.”

Considering all employees will be automatically entered into pensions under the Government’s initiatives, the sheer volume of pension schemes and their databases will be much greater than before, thus potentially causing problems. “Although data from autoenrolment will initially be accurate, it is only a matter of time before it becomes out of date,” warns Duncan. “The issue may compound itself unless databases are in order.”

As various legislation comes into force, Equiniti Data Services have been actively working with clients to ensure their existing

data is up-to-date prior to auto-enrolment.

They provide integral data cleansing services that determine what information is accurate, missing or false within a client’s database.

This may involve verifying a member’s address or carrying out mortality screening to ensure clients are not at risk from overpaying.

If this information is not readily available, Equiniti Data Services employs a forensic tracing process, whereby deferred members and their contact details are manually traced.

“Our results are much higher and more accurate,” says Duncan. “We not only check that databases are complete. We supply the client with qualitative data that is much richer than what they would find elsewhere.”

“There is an element of minimising risk,” continues Duncan. “If data is incomplete or inaccurate, it is difficult for companies to assess whether they are overpaying. It’s a question of investing in a process that will ultimately save money in the long run.”

With expertise stretching back over 25 years, the overriding aim of Equiniti Data Services is to improve and enhance the quality of data across all databases, regardless of what the market is driven by – be it corporate governance, cost-cutting or regulation.

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“The general focus on data quality, accuracy and timely communication is relevant to the financial services as a whole,” explains Duncan. ”If anything changed in the past, it used to be the customer’s responsibility to notify their provider. Now the balance is shifting and providers need to be more thoughtful of their customers.”

FOR MORE INFORMATION Please contact Duncan Stevens at duncan.stevens@equiniti.com or your relationship manager.

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WEBCAST

Stuart Bennett discusses how Equiniti are revolutionising the way we deliver employee benefits.

EMPLOYEE BENEFITS PORTAL

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