I was given shares as part of my salary in 1992 and 1993 when I worked for Lloyds Bank.
I still have the paper shares, I have tried to contact Lloyds to no avail.
How can I find out if these have any value so I can redeem them? M.W. via email
Paper Trail: Our reader has had a hard time finding the right person to talk to to cash in shares given to her in 1992 and 1993 at Lloyds
Helen Kirrane, from This is Money, replies: It is much more common these days for shares to be held in electronic form, through a nominee account with an investment platform, but you may be surprised to learn that it is still believed that over 10 million people hold shares in the UK.
So you’re not alone here – and many like you will have share certificates going back a while.
There has been talk of doing away with share certificates altogether and establishing a truly direct digital shareholding system, but this has been delayed by Brexit and the shift in EU rules.
Lloyds Banking Group is a major player in the British banking industry and is listed on the London Stock Exchange. You can get the price and details of it Lloyds Banking Group shares in our market data.
Your Lloyds Bank shares date back to an older version of the company, before the financial crisis merger with Halifax Bank of Scotland. You still have a valid interest in today’s businesses, but getting them valued is a bit more complicated than simply looking up the price.
To do this, you must call the registrar of shares at Lloyds Bank. that’s Equiniti, not that bank itself. If you’ve tried the latter, this may be why you haven’t been able to make much progress.
A spokesperson for Equniti: ‘For anyone who has paper share certificates, the first step is to check whether the certificates are still valid.
“For this we will do a name and address check to see if they match the shareholder account(s) we hold for you.”
If the company in which you hold shares experiences a ‘corporate event’, for example a merger, corporate action or rights issue, new certificates may be issued which will invalidate old certificates.
New certificates would have been issued to Lloyds shareholders in 1996 as a result of the merger of Lloyds and TSB a few years after you received yours in 1993.
But I was told by Equiniti that new certificates may be issued in a different account in your name or at a different address if you move.
The first thing you should do is contact them to see if your certificate is valid by calling 0371 384 2990 for Lloyds Bank shareholder services. You have the certificates and your shareholder number at hand.
We also asked an investment expert how common these situations are and for advice for people who find themselves in them.
Poppy Fox, investment manager at Quilter Cheviot, answers: We regularly see customers who have paper stocks, sometimes stacks, so you’re not alone.
These shares are often quite old, but that does not automatically mean that they are no longer valid. This is especially true in cases like this where the company is still trading, as the paper stock is more likely to still have real value.
‘In some cases new depositary receipts may be issued, for example in corporate actions, mergers or acquisitions, some of which may no longer be valid, but it’s always worth checking before throwing them away, assuming they’re worthless .
The registrar, such as Capita or Equiniti, should be your first port of call. They usually have both an online and telephone service that can help you verify that a certificate is still valid and then help you manage your holdings. Once you have confirmed validity, you can choose to sell or transfer your property to another place if you wish.
How to redeem your shares
Helen Kirrane adds: I spoke to them about your paper shares and they were confident they could help if you contacted them and provided your full name and address under which you were registered when you worked for Lloyds.
They should be able to guide you through the next steps related to valuing the stock and tell you how to cash it in.
Once Equiniti has determined that your share certificates are valid, there are several ways you can redeem them. You must pay a sales fee for each of these methods.
You can sell them online via Shareview and the commission for this method starts at £15. You can also redeem them over the phone at a dealer with a commission starting at £25.
Redemption by mail is another option, which incurs a fee from £60.
You’ll need to download a stock trading form by mail, but keep in mind that it’s the most expensive way to sell your stock.
The sale proceeds will be paid to you by check or Bacs.
You told me that on October 14, 1993, the last time you received a share certificate, you had a total of 137 shares worth £1 each. The shares were then worth €137.
Calculating the value isn’t as simple as looking up the current Lloyds share price (which is 45.5 pence), due to past business events that may affect the actual number of shares in today’s Lloyds Banking Group that you own , may have changed.
What to do if you have lost depositary receipts?
Poppy Fox adds: If you think you’ve lost one of your share certificates, it may be worth contacting the registrar, as you may need to fill out an indemnity form and usually pay a small fee to have the certificate replaced.
The EU has passed legislation to end the use of paper stock certificates by 2025, and while the UK is no longer required to meet this timeline due to Brexit, a task force has been set up to examine how to digitize existing paper stocks.
The depositary receipts for shares will probably be phased out in the coming years and replaced by a digital version.
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