My share, my vote

Being able to vote is your right as a shareholder, whether you hold your shares directly, on an investment platform, or through an adviser or wealth manager.

The AIC’s campaign, ‘My share, my vote’, aims to make sure that no shareholder is denied that right.

The campaign seeks to end poor practice among some investment platforms and providers, such as failing to pass on voting rights and information, charging customers to vote, and declining to vote shares even when requested to do so.

We are asking for a change in company law so that platforms and other nominees cannot avoid passing on voting rights and information to their customers.

It’s simply unacceptable that investors find themselves left in the dark about their right to vote, prevented from voting or charged for the privilege. If we are serious about shareholder democracy, investors must be able to have their say.

Richard Stone, Chief Executive of the Association of Investment Companies

The AIC’s solution

The AIC believes that Part 9 of the Companies Act 2006 should be amended to:

Make it mandatory for the nominee (for example, a platform) to pass on company information and voting rights unless the customer opts out.
Ensure where a customer does opt out, the nominee has a periodic requirement to confirm if this remains the customer’s preference.
Allow any opted-out customer to opt in, on demand.

The AIC has written to Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds to ask for this change in the law. You can read our letter here.

We’ll be posting updates on our campaign here, so please bookmark this page to check our progress.