Activist shareholders have something to Bragg about
By Owen Walker - 22nd January 2010Activist investors found an unlikely poster boy this week as Billy Bragg announced he was refusing to pay his taxes until chancellor Alistair Darling reined in bonus payments at state-backed lender Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS).
Under the terms of the deal which saw the UK taxpayer take an 84% stake in RBS, it was agreed that the chancellor had the right to veto bonus payments over £25,000 – something he has so far refused to do.
Bragg famously made his big break after dropping in on John Peel with a mushroom biryani and his demo after the DJ told listeners he was hungry – no such pleasantries here.
“This is a frustration borne out of a sense of powerlessness in the face of the bonus culture,” he said. “I don't know what else to do.”
Bragg’s argument is that as his taxes have been ploughed into the failed bank, he is effectively a shareholder and therefore should have a say over how it is run.
The man who sang, “I’m not trying to save the world; I’m not looking for a new England; I’m just looking for another girl,” has decided he would like to see a change in the way financial institutions remunerate their top brass.
And Lord Myners would be proud. The City minister has called on trustees to use their shareholder power to bring a halt to excessive bonuses being doled out at the UK’s largest banks.
Myners has been a vocal critic of asset holders who left “ownerless corporations” unscrutinised. In recent years, the odd example of shareholder mutiny has been the exception that has proved the rule.
But there are changes afoot. The likes of Bragg and the coalition of institutional and individual shareholders who have rallied against Shell are on the crest of the same wave that saw Rage Against the Machine take the Christmas number one.
We are now months away from what is already being hyped as one of the most important general elections in years. But with voter apathy at an all time high, thanks to a year of parliamentary expenses scandals, polling levels are predicted to be at an all time low.
The surge in investor activism may just be the movement that gives the little guy back his vote.