Anger needs management

"Investors have a right to be angry," Jane Diplock, head of the Securities Commission, says in her opinion piece published in the New Zealand Herald this week.

And it's a right that many of them are asserting too. After two years of scandal and slump investor activism is on the up.

For example, a few investors stuck in ING's infamous CDO funds mobilised themselves earlier this year into a lobby group, which publishes a colourful monthly newsletter that channels discontent as well as sharing some pretty useful information.

I don't think the Frozen Funds group has established a website yet but it's already established decent grass-roots support from the disgruntled.

"It is not only that more people are becoming involved, their involvement is also increasing," the latest 'Frozen Funds File' notes. Occasionally the newsletter gets the odd fact wrong but mostly it sticks to its one-issue agenda. Good luck to them.

Another group dubbed "Victims of Vestar" formed last year to vent their frustration at the financial planning group owned by Australian firm MFS that took down the savings of many clients with its collapse early in 2008.

Since then Vestar has been sold a couple of times, with its rump now resting comfortably in the arms of the Axa group.

The 'Victims of Vestar', though, want to disrupt the new comfy arrangement.

"The remnants of the company may have been flicked on to a new suitor, but the people who allegedly succumbed to conflicts of interest that destroyed many investors' life savings remain. And sue them we will," a comment on the website says.

Because it's dealing with slightly more complex issues than the Frozen Funds crowd, the 'Victims' publication is more erratic, but the anger comes through clear enough.

However, the Exposing Unacceptable Financial Activities (EUFA) lobby group ratchets up the anger a few more notches to rage. In its first annual report EUFA is practically dyspeptic.

Unfortunately, the EUFA report comes across as a messy diatribe, which is a pity because there are some legitimate points buried in there amongst the awful prose. I know EUFA has collected some detailed information about investor experiences over the last couple of years and it'd be nice to see it. Jane Diplock might even be interested.




David Chaplin

 

 

Photo: A student shouts slogan during a demonstration in Marseille /AP