| HBOS plc
(was Halifax plc), 2000 AGM report
Hotel
I booked into the Gillmore Hotel once again at 98 Kings Road, Harrogate
(tel: 01423 503699).This was a comfortable hotel and excellent value for
money, so thank you once again the Gillmore.
Technology
This year I had my new IBM 600 ThinkPad for the trip which I use to
connect to my digital camera via the USB port and to either my Nokia
mobile phone or Palm Vx via the serial port. I was able to send and
receive emails via the Nokia, and the advice I had from the UNHAV experts
proved to be very useful on the day prior to the meeting.
Conference Centre
The HBOS plc (was Halifax plc) 2000 AGM which reviewed the 1999 accounts was again held at
the Harrogate Conference Centre, a picture of which is below. It is
a luxurious building which is well fitted out and it was an ideal location
for the day.
As you can see it was a cloudy and miserable day.
Inside the Centre
On arrival, we all had to register and afterwards the shareholders
wandered upstairs to be greeted by courteous Halifax girls offering
coffee, which I gratefully received.
A bank of Halifax PCs ('scuse the pun!) were connected to the Internet
and one of the demonstrators was very keen to show me how to access the
Internet and see Halifax products. Having had a demonstration, I
asked how visible Halifax were on the Internet so I called up AltaVista
and a Halifax lady said to a group of shareholders "this gentleman is
using a search engine". So, into www.altavista.com
I entered "Halifax plc" and guess who was no 2? Well
Redoak of course, so I let the crumbling Halifax logo display; thanked the
guy for his attention and walked off chuckling to myself.
The AGM starts
As reported at the last AGM, Jon Foulds the Chairman had resigned and
this year we have a new Chairman Lord Dennis Stevenson, and he is pictured
below with his head bowed.
The issues that came up in the meeting were:
Shareholder concern that the Halifax was supporting the construction of
a toll road which was unpopular with local people and that there was a
perceived risk of both bad publicity and loss of assets were the
construction not be be completed within budget.
Next came some very serious allegations about irregularities;
underpayment of interest and bonuses; how a lady had dealt with 35
different Halifax employees; how she had been given misinformation and had
been given different answers on the amount owing to her. This was a
very sad story and seemed to indicate unacceptable administration. I
will now check the interest paid on my TESSA (which I have cashed in now)
to see if it was calculated correctly.
Two other people mentioned how they felt the Halifax had lost it's way
with small savers and so was becoming uncompetitive.
I was then on, and here we have a scoop. I
have an audio recording of my questions and answers and I have converted
this audio tape to an mp3 file, and this may be downloaded from
here. Enjoy the guy who made his speech before I asked my
question. The sound quality of the reply is not very good, but you
can hear the words if you download the file and play it using Winamp from
http://www.winamp.com.
My first question was:
Last month Halifax plc settled a case out of
court brought by a New Zealand member of the former Halifax Building
Society complaining that there was no valid reason in 1997 why New Zealand
should not have been classified as a permitted territory for the purposes
of free share distribution.
Given that there are more than 2000 New Zealand
members who were similarly denied free shares as a result of that
classification error, is it the intention of Halifax plc to DO THE RIGHT
THING FOR THESE MEMBERS AND COMPENSATE THEM ACCORDINGLY or will they too
be compelled to field some 2000 odd legal cases with all the attendant bad
publicity it means for us.
The response was that the rules had been defined and that it was not
possible to retrospectively change them. More
details are on the audio file.
I also brought up the letters from Chairman and also the Chief
Executive of the New Zealand Securities Commission regarding what appeared
to have been incomplete staff work on the part of the Halifax.
Finally I ran through a list of unfavourable Halifax press cuttings
including the "1000 Letters of complaint to the Halifax".
The Chief Executive, James Crosby here at the AGM
did seem genuinely concerned about adverse publicity.
After the AGM
We were again treated to a buffet lunch after the AGM which again was
appreciated.
I spoke to Lord Stevenson about my late father's Halifax account and
how we had been deprived of shares following bad advice given by the
Bognor Regis branch, and he has offered to look into my case. He was
interested in seeing the eight identical holding letters that had been
sent to me. I undertook to prepare and send him a package of
documents within two weeks.
Also, I managed to talk to James Crosby about the UNHAV group and how
they were genuinely concerned about the unfair treatment they had
received. I stressed that UNHAV wanted justice and that I could
foresee further "bad press" for the Halifax with further Halifax
losses in court. I asked if he could revisit the UNHAV claim, and he
agreed to and write to me in due course. When I receive the letter,
I'll scan it and forward to Brian.
The Future
In the future, the AGM's will be held in different parts of the country
and next year the Venue will be Edinburgh. I've not been to
Edinburgh before, though I've often been to Glasgow. I think next
year I'll focus on the Statutory Accounts.
As regards the Halifax, they see intense competition in the market
place and see the Internet as providing an ideal opportunity to increase
shareholder value. Already they have launched a number of Internet
business products.
If we are avoiding Halifax Group products, we should avoid esure,
Clerical Medical; Birmingham Midshires; and IF (Intelligent Finance)
that are all part of the Halifax product and service range.
Our Future
Just as the Halifax sees the Internet as providing the opportunity for
growth, so must we use all available tools to enforce justice. We
have the capability to create web sites, and with careful indexing we can
ensure that our sites are near the top of any search engine results.
I still remain very disappointed that justice as administered through
the courts is not always correct, and I am determined that one day, I
should be properly compensated for the bad advice received. Likewise
UNHAV members, keep pursuing your claims; focus on the New Zealand
situation; see if we can get a list of the 2,000 New Zealand members who
did not receive their free shares and let's get those court cases rolling,
as publicity is good publicity for the cause.
Halifaxian Granite
After I arrived home, Angus, my 11 year old son asked me where I had
been, and I mentioned that I went to the Halifax AGM to complain. He
offered to draw a picture for me and here it is. Brian will like it.
I don't think "The Granite" has a happy face.
Update
Since the AGM I have exchanged letters with James Crosby and have
concluded that the Halifax will not concede voluntarily to any claim from
members of the Halifax deemed Non Permitted Territories.
As Dennis Stevenson offered to look into my claim, I sent him a bundle
of documents that support my case. I await a reply with interest.
25 June 00 - I have received a letter
rejecting my claim. This rejection was based upon incorrect
assumptions on the probate process that I followed. I have supplied
documentation to support what actually happened at the time, but this has
been disregarded. His
office, however, later sent me some computer viruses and the details are
here.
I may have been naive in expecting an officer of Halifax plc to act in
an unbiased way. |
Redoak
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