Background

The Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) is the framework of European Union (EU) legislation for:

  • investment intermediaries that provide services to clients around shares, bonds, units in collective investment schemes and derivatives (collectively known as 'financial instruments'), and 
  • the organised trading of financial instruments

MiFID was applied in the UK from November 2007, but has now been revised to improve the functioning of financial markets in light of the financial crisis and to strengthen investor protection.  

How this will affect you

Under the new regulation, we are now required to provide quarterly statements showing the balances of shares and/or cash that Computershare holds on your behalf in accounts that are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The FAQs below provide more information on these statements. 

​​​Selling shares online?​

Important information you need to know before selling shares online.

General FAQs

  • ​MiFID II is a new EU regulation, which came into effect on 3 January 2018. The regulation directs us to issue you with a quarterly statement, showing the balances of shares and/or cash that Computershare holds on your behalf in accounts that are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

    Please note, the statement may not reflect your total holdings. You can read more in the question below, 'Why might my statement not show all of my holdings?'.

  • ​Balances of shares and/or cash that Computershare holds on your behalf in accounts that are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). 

    Any shares held in one of our regulated products i.e. the Vested Share Account and Share Plan Account are covered by the FCA.

    Please note that shares and cash (e.g. dividends) in a tax-advantaged plan, for example a Share Incentive Plan (SIP), are usually held in a Trust and are not regulated by Computershare under MiFID II regulation.​

    ​Any cash arising from the sale of your shares or rejected bank payments held on your behalf will be held in an FCA regulated bank account.​

  • ​Quarterly statements will be uploaded under the ‘Correspondence’ section of your online share plan account every three months.  ​

  • Every year, we will post the first quarterly statement to your registered postal address. Subsequent statements will only be available online. Therefore we recommend that you provide us with a valid email address to enable us to notify you whenever your statement is available.​

  • ​Quarterly statements will be provided online. You will be sent an email notification every quarter when your statement is available. It is therefore important to keep your email address up to date.​

  • ​The quarterly statement only shows the balance of shares and/or cash that Computershare holds on your behalf in accounts that are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). You may also hold shares and/or cash in accounts that are not regulated by the FCA, in which case they will not appear on the statement. An overview of your total shareholding is available to view online by logging in to your share plan account.​

  • ​Your quarterly statement will be provided online where you can download, save and print it should you wish.​

  • ​No. As long as Computershare holds assets on your behalf in share or cash accounts that are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) we must send you quarterly statements.​

  • ​No. MiFID II directs us to send you quarterly statements within a regular and specific timeframe.​

  • Your statement will remain online indefinitely.

  • ​Your quarterly statement is provided for your information only and upon receiving it, you are not required to take any action.

Plan and transactional FAQs

  • Your SIP shares are held by a Trust on your behalf and not in a Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regulated account. You are able to view further details online at any time. You can read more in the question above, ‘Why might my statement not show all of my holdings?’​

  • When you instruct a sale it usually takes up to two business days for the broker to send us your sale proceeds. Once received, your sale proceeds will be issued to you.​

  • ​As long as Computershare holds assets on your behalf in share or cash accounts that are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) you will continue to receive quarterly statements.​

Logging into your share plan account

  • ​To access your account you will need your User ID (which you may also know as your Employee ID or SRN) and PIN.

    • Go to: www.computershare.com/uk 
    • Select 'Manage my share plan'
    • Enter the name of the company you work for
    • Enter your login details
    • Choose a new PIN and provide answers to three security questions (please note you will only need to do this for the first login)
     
    Please ensure that your PIN is kept safe at all times.

  • You can reset your PIN at any time via your share plan account.

    At the login page, please click the 'Forgotten PIN?' link. You will be prompted to enter your User ID (which you may also know as your Employee ID or SRN)​ and then asked to answer your security questions.

​Any other questions?​

If you have any other questions about MiFID II, please contact us.​