Shareholder Security

RSA is legally obliged to make its share register available to the general public and are unable to control the use of information obtained by persons inspecting the register. Consequently some shareholders may receive unsolicited mail, including correspondence from unauthorised investment companies.

Unsolicited Advice

Shareholders are advised to be very wary of any unsolicited advice, offers to buy shares at a discount or offers of free company reports. You may receive unsolicited phone calls or email correspondence concerning investment matters. These are typically from overseas based brokers who claim to have a connection with RSA and who target UK shareholders (whose details may appear on publicly available resources, such as the records on file at Companies House) offering to sell them what often turn out to be worthless or high risk investments. They can be very persistent and extremely persuasive. We have no association whatsoever with any of these brokers and do not endorse any of the investments that they are attempting to sell.

If you receive any unsolicited investment advice:

• make sure you get the correct name of the person and organisation;
• check that they are properly authorised by the FSA.  You can check at www.fsa.gov.uk/fsaregister;
• make a report to the FSA. This will enable the FSA to update its list of unauthorised overseas firms who are targeting, or have targeted, UK investors and any approach from such organisations should be reported to the FSA so that this list can be kept up to date and any other appropriate action can be considered. If you deal with an unauthorised firm, you would not be eligible to receive payment under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. The FSA can be contacted by completing an online form at www.fsa.gov.uk; and
• inform Equiniti Registrars on 0871 384 2048 (callers from overseas should call +44 (0)121 415 7064).

Details of any share dealing facilities that the company endorses will be included in company mailings or on our website. More information on protecting your investment can be found at www.fsa.gov.uk/consumerinformation/stay_safe.

Protecting Your Investment

• Keep any documentation that contains your shareholder reference number in a safe place and destroy any documentation which you no longer need by shredding it;
• Inform Equiniti promptly when you change your address. If you receive a letter from Equiniti regarding a change of address and you have not recently moved, please contact them immediately;
• Be aware of dividend payment dates and contact the registrars if you do not receive your dividend cheque or better still, make arrangements to have the dividend paid directly into your bank account;
• Consider holding your shares electronically in a CREST account via a nominee.