The UK Shareholders’ Association (UKSA) is a

not-for-profit organisation A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

limited by guarantee with over 500 members. It is the UK's oldest shareholder campaigning organisation, representing and supporting individual investors in the UK stock markets. Membership of UKSA is open to anyone with an interest in stock market investment and in improving the investment environment for private investors. UKSA encourages improvement of the investment environment through critical but constructive engagement with the UK Government, the Regulators and the wider financial services industry. UKSA regularly responds to consultations from Government, the Financial Reporting Council and the

Financial Conduct Authority The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is a financial regulation, financial regulatory body in the United Kingdom, but operates independently of the UK Government, and is financed by charging fees to members of the financial services industry. The ...

. UKSA also participates on working parties, particularly on issues such as UK corporate governance, including the Cadbury Report, the

Greenbury Report The Greenbury Report released in 1995 was the product of a committee established under the auspices of the United Kingdom Confederation of British Industry. The committee was formed at the behest of the President of the Board of Trade, Michael Hese ...

and the

Myners Report ''Institutional Investment in the UK: A Review'' (the ''Myners Report'') was a report to HM Treasury in March 2001 on institutional investors. It was delivered by Paul Myners. Government was concerned that institutional investors were giving insu ...

. More recently, UKSA has responded to the Department of Business, Energy, Innovation and Strategy’s independent enquiry into the Financial Reporting Council, chaired by Sir John Kingman, to the Competition and Market Authority's call for evidence on the condition of the statutory audit market, and to the Brydon Review. UKSA participates in European discussion through its membership of the European Federation of Investors and Financial Services Users (Better Finance), and provides a discussion forum through its newsletter, ''The Private Investor''. It also runs educational events and regional networking meetings. As a result, UKSA members actively encourage better accountability between boardrooms and investors through specially arranged meetings between FTSE companies and private investors. Battles have reached the national media, including British Gas,

Railtrack Railtrack was a group of companies that owned the track, signalling, tunnels, bridges, level crossings and all but a handful of the stations of the British railway system from 1994 until 2002. It was created as part of the privatisation of ...

and the successful defence of

Marks & Spencer Marks and Spencer Group plc (commonly abbreviated to M&S and colloquially known as Marks's or Marks & Sparks) is a major British multinational retailer with headquarters in Paddington, London that specialises in selling clothing, beauty, home ...

from

Philip Green Sir Philip Nigel Ross Green (born 15 March 1952) is a British businessman who was the chairman of the retail company the Arcadia Group. He owned the high street clothing retailers Topshop, Topman and Miss Selfridge from 2002 to 2020. As of Ma ...

. Since the financial crash in 2007, UKSA has been campaigning for fair and equitable treatment of private investors in cases where audit and regulatory oversight appears to have failed. Examples include

Lloyds TSB Lloyds Bank plc is a British retail and commercial bank with branches across England and Wales. It has traditionally been considered one of the " Big Four" clearing banks. Lloyds Bank is the largest retail bank in Britain, and has an exten ...

, Northern Rock and

Bradford & Bingley Bradford & Bingley plc was a British bank with headquarters in the West Yorkshire town of Bingley. The bank was formed in December 2000 by demutualisation of the Bradford & Bingley Building Society following a vote of the building society's mem ...

, and, more recently,

Carillon A carillon ( , ) is a pitched percussion instrument that is played with a keyboard and consists of at least 23 cast-bronze bells. The bells are hung in fixed suspension and tuned in chromatic order so that they can be sounded harmoniou ...

and Patisserie Valerie. UKSA was formed in 1992 and is funded from membership fees, donations and membership services. Founding members of UKSA were Nick Stevens, Donald Butcher and others meeting in a home via a letter in the

Investors Chronicle The ''Investors Chronicle'' is a weekly magazine in the United Kingdom for private investors and is published by the ''Financial Times'' Group. The magazine publishes articles about global markets and sectors, and news on corporate actions such ...

. The current chairman is Malcolm Hurlston.

References

{{Reflist

External links

UKSA's website
Non-profit organisations based in the United Kingdom Shareholders