Transcript

> FEBRUARY 2011

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

SHARE SCAMS & SWINDLESWe discuss progress made with the FSA to prevent Boiler Room Fraud

TRUSTED PARTNERSSeveral recent contract renewals show clients value Equiniti’s service

EQUINITI BUSINESS PERFORMANCEOutstanding Q4 results in operations

KEEPING IT REALIntroducing real-time share dealing for SIP clients

ESP UPDATEUseful information on Early Day Motion and OT Tax Coding

WEBCASTNew acquisition for Equiniti

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Equiniti and the FSA are continuing to work together to crack down on scams and swindles

share scams & swindlesFollowing our successful client seminar with representatives of the FSA and the City of London Police, and

the previous e-Bulletin in January, we wanted to let you know about the further progress that has been made to deliver against the actions agreed at the seminar.

Significant progress madeThe following actions have been successfully delivered:-

■■ The 2006 FSA/ICSA Registrars Group Warning to Shareholders has been updated.

■■ Both the Shareview.com and Equiniti.com websites have been updated to include the warning and links to both the FSA and Action Fraud websites.

■■ The Contact Centre script has been rewritten and rolled out to agents. The information which they have been asked to obtain from callers has been revised and the questions slimmed down and made more relevant.

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■■ A further meeting has been arranged with the FSA on 29 February, to follow up the remaining action points from the seminar.

Actions for issuers If you wish to use the new Warning, please contact your Relationship Manager.

The FSA has asked that they be advised of any significant mailings (say those to more than 50,000 shareholders) before despatch, so that their Consumer Helpline can be notified and resourced if necessary.

In the event that one of these is planned, please ensure that your Relationship Manager has the following information:

■■ Company name■■ Date of mailing■■ How many recipients will there be?■■ Is this an enclosure on a separate document

or has the wording been incorporated in another document?

For smaller mailings, there is no need to pre-advise the FSA but they are interested to know on a regular basis how the Warning is being used, so again, please ensure that your Relationship Manager has the same

iF you would liKe more inFormation:Please contact your Relationship Manager or

John Heaton at [email protected]

information after the mailing has been despatched. He/She will ensure that this is collated and made available to the FSA on a regular basis.

We will provide another update following the next meeting with the FSA and also keep you informed of any further developments or interesting information in the fight against financial crime and shareholder exploitation.

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We are looking forward with great pleasure to continuing to provide outstanding service to all of these clients and are excited to have been given the opportunity to develop and growing these client relationships over the coming years.

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Several recent contract renewals show clients value Equiniti’s service

trusted partners

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What makes a great client relationship? Outstanding service, reliability and respect are undoubtedly

important factors. Equinti is therefore pleased and proud to announce that several prominent clients have chosen to renew their contracts with us – confirmation that all of the above qualities run right through the heart of the Equiniti Group.

Following on from BT, who agreed to a minimum five year contract renewal earlier this year, Barclays, GlaxoSmithKline and Royal Dutch Shell have also demonstrated their confidence by signing up to Equiniti for five more years. Other companies who have pledged to continue working with us are United Utilities, Reed Elsevier, Mothercare, The Rank Group, Carnival, Wolseley, British Land, Tate and Lyle, UBM, Lonrho, Shire, Drax Group, Trinity Mirror, Electrocomponents and Cairn Energy.

did you Know? Our average client

relationship is 25 years.

Equiniti Contact Centre achieved an overall grade of service of 94% against a service level target of 80%.

99.3% of all calls presented were answered. A total of 453,253 calls were answered.

In the most recent Capital Analytics survey, Equiniti received the highest scores in the Contact Centre and Complaint Resolution categories when compared to our competitors.

The ability to process Address Changes and Bank Mandates has made significant contributions to the contact centre in 2011 by helping us to reduce complaints and repeat calls. We are now looking to expand this to other processes within the Contact Centre in 2012.

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equiniti business perFormanceWe are pleased to report that we can continue to provide a high standard of performance and quality, improving year on year.

In the information over these 2 pages we give details of our Contact Centre Service Levels. Transaction Processing Service Levels, Customer Complaint Quarterly Trends and Equiniti Developments.

%

contact centre service level standards

90 150k

92 170k

94 190k

96 210k

98 230k

100 250k

Q409

Q110

Q210

Q310

Q4

Quarterly % Total Calls Answered Average Monthly Volumes of Calls Received Service Standard

10Q111

Q211

Q311

Q411

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2011 has seen a record low in terms of incoming complaints. This demonstrates the effectiveness of quality improvements and staff training on the overall quality of service delivery and the improved customer experience. Highlights for 2011 include:

■■ Incoming complaints 7% lower compared to 2010 and 37% lower than 2009.

■■ Upheld complaints 30% lower than 2010 and 65% lower than 2009.■■ FOS referrals 60% lower than 2010 with associated compensation 90% lower than 2010 for those cases referred in 2011.

■■ Press complaints received reduced by 53% compared to 2010.

A Quality Initiative Plan for 2012 is in place and underway to continue to build on the success of 2011.

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Service level performance was 99.8% for Q4. This strong performance ensured that Equiniti significantly exceeded its 95% service standard throughout 2011.

As expected, volumes in Q4 increased slightly when compared to Q3, due to the interim Dividend season and Sharedealing tasks. This increase is in line with previous years and has been well managed.

Volumes are expected to rise in Q1 2012 due to the proxy season and the commencement of the Final Dividend period. Resource needs have been identified and staff training is now underway.

%

%

customer complaints

transaction processing service level standards

90 400,000

0

92 600,000

0.01

94 800,000

0.02

96 1,000,000

0.030.04

98 1,200,000

0.060.05

100 1,400,000

0.07

Q409

Q409

Q110

Q110

Q210

Q210

Q310

Q310

Quarterly Average Service %

Quarterly Average Service %

Quarterly Average Volumes processed Service Standard

Q410

Q410

Q111

Q111

Q211

Q211

Q311

Q311

Q411

Q411

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Share Registration ■■ One touch solution: expansions are planned in Q1 2012 to look at transactional processing using Debit/Credit card functionality over the phone.

■■ Shareview Electronic queries project continues to progress on track with a delivery date for Mid February expected.

Employee Share Plans■■ Continuing the roll out of ESP Portal. Client and employee feedback continues to be very positive.

■■ On-line real time SIP dealing will be available through ESP Portal from January.

■■ Following the successful roll out of on-line reporting on SIP and SAYE, reporting for Executive plans will go live in Q1.

Investment Services■■ We are currently focusing on the development of a new system solution for Corporate & Employee Services (C&ES), which was acquired from Nat West Stockbrokers (NWS) in September 2011. We are combining this with further new platform development to enable Investment Services to enhance and grow its share dealing offering.

General ■■ Improvements have been made to the sign up process and terms of the International Dividend Mandate Service with a view to improving Shareholder take up. Piloting promotions are now being planned to identify the optimal marketing approach, results to follow.

equiniti developments q1-q2 2012

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Keeping it realEmployee Benefits Solutions (EBS) is always on the look-out for ways to enhance its service offering for both

its clients and their employees, so the recent launch of Equiniti’s real-time dealing for SIP (Share Incentive Plan) has marked a great start to 2012 and another step forward in the Portal’s usability.

Integrated within Equiniti’s ESP portal, real-time dealing revolutionises the selling of SIP shares by ensuring that employees receive a price before committing to a sale. As Samantha John, SIP Product Development Manager, explains, “Previously, employees with SIP shares were only able to submit sales instructions as part of a bulk service, which were collated and dealt once a day. While this was an improvement on the previous system, there was an obvious disadvantage in that employees don’t know what price they will get for their shares. With our new service, participants interact directly with

Introducing real-time share dealing for SIP clients

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a broker platform through the ESP portal, to give employees a real-time share price direct from the market. They can then make an informed decision on whether to commit to their instruction and should the employee then decide to sell, the trade is executed immediately.”

The technology behind this real-time dealing is market-leading and was developed in response to client feedback, as Samantha explains: “We held a variety of focus groups with our clients as part of the wider ESP Portal project, enabling us to take on board their feedback and deliver a product that was in line with their expectations. One of the key deliverables has always been real-time dealing for SIP, so we took that on board, and have delivered a fantastic service.”

The service was first introduced in January 2012, and has made an immediate impact.

The next phase is to continue to roll out this service across our client base, with nine clients currently activated and 11 more activations expected in March.

“Ultimately, one of the things you really want to know as a shareholder is what your shares are worth so that you can make an informed decision about whether to sell or hold on to them, this service makes that possible,” Samantha adds; “It’s a great example of us listening to our clients, taking on board what they want, and then using technology and our expertise to deliver that.”

Following the launch of the service in January, employee feedback has been hugely positive.

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The transaction was very simple

and easy to follow and the real time selling is a great advantage

‘Fantastic service. Much simplified and very easy

to use. Very impressed. I’ve been singing the praises of the new site to my colleagues

iF you would liKe more inFormation:Please contact [email protected]

EmployEE sharE plaNs

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Useful information on Early Day Motion and OT Tax Coding

esp updateWe have two Employee Share Plan updates for you this month:

Adrian Bailey, Chairman of the Business, Innovation and Skills Select Committee, has tabled an Early Day

Motion calling on the Government to increase the monthly saving limits for both SAYE and SIP share plans (£450 a month for SAYE plans and £2,000 a year for SIPs). If you support this, it would be helpful if you could contact your local MP to ask them to sign Early Day Motion number 2626.

HMRC has announced that from 6 April 2012 code ‘0T’ should be used to deduct tax on share-based payments

made to leavers after their P45s have been issued. This change will align all post-employment earnings under the same tax code. Comments on the draft changes to the PAYE regulations closed on 16 February 2012.

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wEbcast

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Mark Taylor, Director of Investor Services at Equiniti talks about the acquisition and integration of the Corporate and Employee Services division of NatWest Stockbrokers.

webcast: new acquisition For equiniti

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