FTSE firms told to cut the corporate mumbo jumbo

CHARLIE CONCHIE

FTSE 100 BOSSES are shutting out amateur investors from the market by using corporate waffle and overly technical language in their shareholder communication, a top investment platform has warned. Ministers and investment platforms have been looking to push individual investors towards public markets again as part of a wider drive to reinvigorate UK listed companies.

However, in a letter to FTSE 100 chairs yesterday, Interactive Investor, the UK’s second biggest investment platform, said firms too often used jargon that is too difficult for the average retail investor to understand.

“It matters, because badly written shareholder notifications are a barrier to engagement, lead to poor decisions and create stress,” Richard Wilson, chief of Interactive Investor, said. The firm backed a recent effort from M&S chair Archie Norman to boost shareholder democracy by allowing firms to hold digital-only AGMs, though this was met with rage from M&S shareholders.