Legal experts Irwin Mitchell, have warned that pension trustees could be held personably liable for millions of pounds in lost compensation payouts if they fail to sign up to shareholder class actions.
They have said that around $5 billion was paid out by shareholder actions against firms found guilty of fraud last year in the US, but UK investors regularly miss out on their share because of a lack of trustee knowledge. Unlike the UK, the US authorities regularly publish notices of class actions and trustees and investors only have a limited window in which to sign up to any agreed compensation package.
Our view
Fair point, trustees need to take a more active role in the shares that have been placed in their 'trust'.