Equiniti Ezine October 2013

EZINE > September 2013 inside this issue: Perspective ● The Employee Benefit Solutions Forum celebrates 10 years of success ● Mark Taylor, Director of Equiniti’s Investment Services, discusses diversification in stock portfolios Update ● Equiniti’s Contact Centre shows its commitment to quality by gaining ISO accreditation ● A new share dealing platform is set to bring greater benefits to investors client focus Hammerson finds Prism Cosec’s approach to supporting clients goes way beyond core company secretarial support

perspective

equiniti EZINE > September 2013

Celebrating 10 years of success

Employee Benefit Solutions Forum The annual Employee Benefit Solutions Forum celebrated its 10th anniversary with a one-day CPD accredited event at Pennyhill Park. A wealth of speakers took to the stage, including share plan clients, advisors and Equiniti staff.

John Parker, Managing Director at Equiniti, warmly welcomed more than 100 delegates.

Throughout the day, attendees enjoyed presentations and panel sessions from clients including BT, Centrica, Edwards and Smith & Nephew. A number of advisors – Tapestry, Towers Watson, Linklaters, Pinsent Mason, Herbert Smith & Freehills – were also in attendance. The event was hosted by Phil Ainsley, Managing Director, Employee Benefit Solutions at Equiniti, and closed with a celebratory evening dinner.

Recurring themes up for discussion included remuneration and corporate governance, which

The event was held at Pennyhill Park in Surrey

were discussed in plenaries and breakout sessions. Informative updates on OTS reforms, AGM insights, examples of portal development, international share plans and other global issues affecting the share plan world were also debated.

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Phil Ainsley talked positively about the event: “It was an overwhelming success and feedback to date has been excellent. The Employee Benefits Solutions Forum is always a major focus for my colleagues and myself. Aside from knowledge sharing, it is a great

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Perspective opportunity to catch up and network with our clients and advisors. I am delighted that so many were able to join us in this special 10th anniversary year.”

equiniti EZINE > September 2013

Feedback

Feedback from the event was very positive. We look at some of the best quotes from the day.

“Very topical, great speakers – another great event, celebrating 10 years of success” “One of the best sessions on BIS and the related topics were very relevant”

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“Very engaging” “Well run, good presenters providing a cross-industry view” “Very useful and thought provoking”

perspective

equiniti EZINE > September 2013

Mark Taylor, Equiniti’s Director of Investment Services, points to a lack of diversification in the average share portfolio

A question of diversification One in seven Brits own shares, and many of those shareholdings belong to the employees of listed companies who were awarded or sold shares at discount prices. In 2011, the total value of those shares and options was £2.7bn*, demonstrating their popularity as a means of delivering a sense of ownership and involvement.

According to HMRC, in 2011-12, 9,300 companies operated a share scheme, and that number has remained steady over the last decade**. For many people, shares received from a company scheme will be their only shareholding. But it is also a significant one.

Equiniti research has revealed that the average value of shares held in one company is £3,800.

Variety is the spice of life when it comes to share portfolios

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Equiniti also administers 22,625 employersponsored ISAs, with an average value of around £15,000. Generally, this is held in just two to three companies.

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Perspective Such large stakes in a very small number of stocks does not always constitute best practice for investors in terms of both minimising and managing risk. And this lack of diversification is reflected among most UK shareholders – the UK’s nine million direct shareholders have invested in only around four different companies.

equiniti EZINE > September 2013

Money Week states the average number of companies that should comprise a well-diversified portfolio is around 16. On that basis, if the first law of property is location, the first rule of investment must be diversification.

The overarching concern for all shareholders is diversification, or lack of it. Money Week states the average number of companies that should comprise a well-diversified portfolio is around 16. On that basis, if the first law of property is location, the first rule of investment must be diversification.

trade bodies, regulators or Government are all good sources of information and will be well placed to go where HR departments cannot commit themselves. If the employer also sponsors an investment ISA, then most likely their provider will prove to have a wealth of knowledge they can call on.

It is a challenging situation for employers.

They cannot be expected to act as financial advisers, and employees must ultimately take responsibility for their savings and investment plans. However, many employers, as part of their wider duty of care, wish to provide employees with access to investment information and support, in much the same way as they do for pension schemes and other benefits.

There is no single answer, but what is clear from our research is that more consideration is needed to address the question of diversification.

Fortunately, employers needn’t look far for valid investor information. Share registrars,

* Source: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/statistics/shareschemes/ess.pdf HMRC – Employee share schemes statistics for 2011-12 - Summary (page 5) – Released 28 June 2013 **Source: as above – Summary (page 5)

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equiniti EZINE > September 2013

UPDate

All of the latest industry news from the Equiniti Group

Quality for all Achieving ISO accreditation affirms Equiniti’s Contact Centre’s commitment to quality Equiniti’s Contact Centre successfully attained ISO 9001:2008 accreditation recently, further strengthening its commitment to delivering quality for our customers. It is the first time the Contact Centre has secured the accreditation and it now joins other parts of the organisation, including Corporate Actions and Equiniti Paymaster, in holding the certificate.

ISO 9001:2008 (the International Organisation for Standardisation) outlines the requirements of a quality management system. It focuses on the internal applications within a department and the effectiveness of training, operation planning and quality checking.

“The accreditation acknowledges many procedures we already have in place, but it also provides an external perspective and confirms

we have quality systems and strong operational procedures across the Centre,” explains Contact Centre Manager, Darren Charles. “Quality is key for us in terms of the longevity of the business.”

Having ISO assures our clients that we have the correct procedures in place.

Jenni Ward, Senior Manager of Quality Assurance

“Everyone from the management team down is focused on customer service,” adds Senior Manager of Quality Assurance, Jenni Ward. “The Contact Centre differs from other organisations as there is such a diverse range of questions that could be asked by our customers and we are bound by a number of practices. Having ISO assures our clients that we have the correct procedures in place.”

Attaining ISO is a relatively long and detailed process, in that standard operational procedures must be implemented for everything. “We didn’t just treat this as a tick-box exercise,” says Jenni. “ISO will run

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Update alongside our operating structure and it will have tangible benefits for the Contact Centre going forward.”

The Contact Centre takes a very proactive approach in ensuring customer satisfaction, and ISO is part of the overall continuous improvement agenda within Operations.

Director of Operations, Sam Halford, says: “This is another accreditation for our Contact Centre that continues to go from strength to strength. I am particularly proud of the team, who on top of the CCA Global

equiniti EZINE > September 2013

Standard Accreditation, has now achieved ISO 9001:2008. It is a great success story and proof if any was needed of the continuous improvement agenda in Operations.”

If you would like more information Please contact your relationship manager

2014 AGM Meetings The AGM team is now scheduling and planning for the forthcoming 2014 meetings season. If you haven’t already done so, please can you email your proposed date to Helen.Wilson@equiniti.com

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Update

equiniti EZINE > September 2013

IMPROVING SERVICE

A new share dealing platform is set to bring greater benefits to investors Equiniti Investment Services is scheduled to launch its new share dealing platform in November. It has been developing the new platform in conjunction with sister company peterevans, a specialist provider of front-to-back office investment solutions purchased by the Equiniti Group in 2012.

with our Equiniti Shareview Dealing ISA and Investment Account, and additions to the market data and investment tools we provide.

Mark Taylor, Director of Investment Services said: “With the new in-house platform we will have a much greater ability to adapt and build on our existing offering. It is our objective to provide continual improvement of the Shareview Dealing service, in line with investor needs and expectations, and to work with our corporate clients to ensure future developments meet their requirements.”

Roll out of the new platform will take place in stages over a period of several months and providing customers with continual access to our trading services is a key priority in managing the process.

The purpose of the new platform, and bringing it in-house, is to achieve three precise objectives through a series of phased deliveries: ■■ An improved end service for investors ■■ Additional and more flexible functionality ■■ Enhanced investment choices

With the new launch investors will immediately benefit from a wider range of stocks through our Regular Investment service.

Following completion of the initial launch, two further service enhancements are planned: expansion of the number and type of funds (unit trusts and OEICS) available for investment

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Client Focus

equiniti EZINE > September 2013

Prism Cosec’s approach to supporting its clients goes way beyond providing core company secretarial support and its client Hammerson will testify to that

Here to help With the best will in the world, there are always going to be times when a bit of knowledgeable support is required; someone that won’t take up precious time having to be trained or managed, but who can hit the ground running and get the job done. A professional with experience and knowledge, who understands exactly what needs to be done to run a successful company secretarial department. Prism Cosec, now part of the Equiniti Group, offers all of this and more.

“In one aspect, we are that extra resource that can hit the ground running because we have the experience that comes with having worked in-house. So we can walk straight into a department and get started, and that’s exactly what we did with our client, Hammerson,” explains Kerin Williams, Senior Assistant Director at Prism Cosec. “Our expertise also allows us to drive through big change projects

Our expertise allows us to drive through big change projects and highlight where improvements can be made to make a department more efficient.

Kerin Williams, Senior Assistant Director at Prism Cosec and highlight where improvements can be made to make a department more efficient.

Sometimes a fresh pair of eyes can be really helpful in adding improvements to the existing set-up.”

A provider of corporate governance and company secretarial services to quoted and unquoted companies, Prism Cosec’s people are experts in operating within UK governance standards. Their experience allows them to

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support both UK and international companies to establish and maintain best practice corporate governance policies and systems. Whether a company needs a fully outsourced company secretarial function or additional support during a particularly busy period, Prism Cosec is unique in that it can provide both.

“We employ senior people with a great deal of experience gained in-house throughout various sectors who understand the mechanics

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Client focus

equiniti EZINE > September 2013

It doesn’t take us long to establish how we can best work together with a client, whilst being mindful of their culture, to achieve the results they are looking for.

Andrew Wallace, Chartered Secretary at Prism Cosec of a company secretarial department, how a listed company works and have experience of managing and mentoring senior people. As a result, it doesn’t take us long to establish how we can best work together with a client, whilst being mindful of their culture, to achieve the results they are looking for,” says Andrew Wallace, Chartered Secretary at Prism Cosec.

This level of expertise allowed Prism Cosec to support Hammerson, a FTSE 100 company that has a portfolio of retail property in the UK and France worth around £5.5 billion. “We supported Hammerson in various different ways,” says Kerin. “We’ve supported them during a period of staffing change, and not just from a perspective of filling resource gaps.

We also assisted with the appointment of a deputy company secretary.” Having filled the deputy company secretary role for a number

of months, Prism were well placed to assist the General Counsel to select the right candidate for the role. Prism also worked with the secretariat department to identify project streams that could improve the efficiency of the department.

Prism Cosec’s continued project management support has allowed Hammerson’s company secretarial team to concentrate on the dayto-day challenges that come with running a demanding department, whilst also being able to contribute to and implement efficiency improvements. Sarah Booth, Hammerson General Counsel, says, “Prism has acted as a supplementary in-house resource, that we can tap into at any time we feel we need extra support. They really do become an extension of my team, which is what differentiates them from other advisors. Their knowledge, flexibility and expertise has been extremely valuable to us.”

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If you would like more information Please contact your relationship manager.