Have you received a letter from us? 

About Equiniti and unclaimed assets

Why have you written to me?

We have a duty of care to protect the assets (shares, dividends and associated payments) we hold on behalf of our customers. That means we need to try to reunite customers with their assets. This usually happens when we have lost contact with them.

We try to make contact through several routes:
- we will contact the occupier of an investor’s last known address and ask for forwarding details
- we will contact investors through their bank if we  have their bank details but not their postal address
- we sometimes use professional search agents

When we contact investors, to prevent fraud, we ask for proof of identity.

Who are Equiniti Financial Services Limited?

We are part of the Equiniti Group, the UK's leading provider of share registration and related services. We are regulated by the Financial Services Authority and act as Registrar for over 700 companies, including around 55% of the FTSE 100 and manage some 24 million shareholder accounts.
We also look after employee share plans, pensions and employee benefits schemes.

You can find our website here: www.equiniti.com
You can check our Financial Services Authority registration here: www.fsa.gov.uk or by calling them on 0845 606 1234.

Why are the details of my assets not included in this letter?

We can only write to the last known address of an investor. Because that investor may have moved, we need to protect them from fraud. For example, someone could contact us, claiming to be them. This means that we can only reveal the nature of their unclaimed assets when they have proved their identity.

Is this a Scam?

We work actively with the FSA to stop scams and raise awareness of them. In fact, we have published a guide on how to avoid being scammed:

http://www.shareview.co.uk/Markets/Pages/Boilerroomscams_Jun08.aspx.

The FSA publishes an excellent guide to scams and how to avoid them:

http://www.fsa.gov.uk/scams

I do not have a paper utility bill, can you accept other types of ID?

If you can’t send us a recent utility bill as form of identification you can send one of
these:
- Most recent HM Revenue & Customs tax notification (not a P45 or P60)
- Bank/building society/credit union statement or pass book – less than 3 months old
- Local authority council tax bill (valid for the current year)
- Signed documentation from a regulated financial services firm which indicates a current relationship with the firm exists

If  you can’t send us any of these, you can also send an original passport or driving licence which we will return promptly.

Why will you sometimes employ a tracing agent?

We are authorised and regulated by the FSA. That means we have a duty to safeguard assets held on behalf of shareholders. It also means we do all we can to unite our shareholders with their unclaimed assets. So if we don’t hear back from investors when we write to them, we may employ a tracing agent. The tracing agent will only make a charge if you choose to use their service and you are under absolutely no obligation to use them.

Do you charge to reissue my assets?

We will have already tried to send you your assets in the past, but been unable to, perhaps because you have changed address. Sometimes, shareholders die and we do not know who their personal representatives/administrators are. On other occasions, we will have sent a cheque, but it has not been cashed.
Because we need to check identity and administer the payments reissue, we do make a charge. Broadly, the higher the value of the payment, the higher our associated administration costs. This is because of we need to undertake tougher security checks. We deduct fees before we send you your payment.

Please note: Fees may vary per company and are subject to change

What if the investor has died?

If the person we’ve written to has died, are you their personal representative or next of kin?
If you are, please forward an original UK Grant of Representation, Grant of Probate (or a sealed office copy) so that we can discuss this entitlement with you.

Please note that we are not able to reissue any payments until the late holder's death has been recorded with us. Upon submission of an original Death Certificate we will be able to issue a cheque made payable to “The Personal Representatives of the Deceased”. 

However, we do understand that cheques in this format may not be accepted if there is no bank account set up to receive the payment; should you wish amounts due to be issued in the name(s) of specific legal representatives or the firm of solicitors that dealt with the estate, we will require an original or sealed office copy of the Grant of Representation, Probate or Letters of Administration.  In the instance of payment to only one of multiple legal representatives, signed authority is required from those individuals not set to receive payment.

If the value of the shareholding at the date of death was less than £10,000 and the value of the deceased's UK estate is no more than the Inheritance Tax limit, we can, upon request, send you details of our Small Estates procedure. Once in receipt of one of a completed Small Estate Form, we will be able to issue any outstanding payments in the name as detailed within that documentation.