Notice of 23rd AGM of the Equity Release Council and Nomination of Directors

To: All Equity Release Council members

NB: early booking onto the forthcoming meeting is highly recommended

Notice is hereby given for the 23rd Annual General Meeting of the Equity Release Council to be held at the offices of Eversheds 1 Wood St, London (EC2V 7WS) at 10:30am on Thursday, 27th April 2017. Delegate registration starts at 10:00am and a lunch will kindly be provided by Eversheds.
 
The meeting will comprise a not-to-be-missed packed agenda which will be confirmed in due course, including:

• Results of the ballot for the 4 Director positions
• See below for more detailed information on the ballot
• The Council’s current & forthcoming activities
• Standards Board update
• Consumer Protection working group update on latest case study research
• An insightful presentation by Polly McKenzie of the Money & Mental Health Policy Institute
• A presentation by Alice Watson from member firm Retirement Advantage on their latest report Home Truths – time for a better conversation about using property and pensions to fund retirement

The full agenda, ERC Final Accounts 2016 and the Accountants letter of representation can be downloaded from the Members’ area of the website now, along with the minutes of the last GCM held in December 2016 and the ballot form. 
 
Early booking is highly reccomended. For your RSVPs to attend please contact Sarah Hall at [email protected] as soon as possible and no later than Monday 24^th April 2017.

Ballot for Directors of the Equity Release Council

Further to the request for nominations for the four directors’ positions sent out on 3^rd February 2017, the following members have been nominated:

• Steve Kyle – Just.
• Vanessa Owen – LV=
• Steve Ellis – LGHF
• Jon Tweed – One Family
• Tom Evans – Retirement Advantage
• Richard Overson – Key Retirement

The ballot for director’s positions is open to member firms in good standing* and will be managed in line with clauses 23.6,33 & 36 of the Memorandum of Articles for The Council and will be conducted on a one firm = one vote basis. The Board of Directors ratified 3 main principles at their meeting on the 12/3/15 associated with these articles for the purpose of managing this and forthcoming ballots that will remain in force until such times as the Board of Directors shall otherwise decide:

1. The ERC being a Trade Body representing the industry, primarily therefore representing firms and not that of any one individual member associated with that firm.
2. A firm’s payment methodology for their subscription(s) will have no bearing on their voting arrangements, therefore;
3. Each member [firm] in good standing* is invited to and shall have one vote for the total £(pound sterling) value of their firm’s aggregate membership fee(s) paid for the past year prior to the closing date for nominations.
1. member firm wishing to conduct an internal ballot of their own individual members should report the result of that ballot to the ERC by a nominated individual on the appropriate ballot form as a representative single vote for the firm by the deadline.

Therefore, for the purpose of this ballot, the count will be based on the registered member firm’s aggregate membership fees due in the financial year ended December 2016 and paid for no later than the closing date of nominations of 10th of March 2017. A returning officer has been appointed to validate the ballot.
 
*”member in good standing” means a member whose membership fees are not overdue for payment and who has not been declared by the directors or any other authorised person(s) on behalf of the company to be at the relevant time currently in breach of the articles or any rules, by-laws or code of practice of the company.
 
Member firms wishing to vote should download the ballot paper from The Council website, complete and return to Sarah Hall, Equity Release Council, 3rd Floor, Bush House, North West Wing, Aldwych, London, WC2B 4PJ or by email to [email protected] ensuring they are received by COB, 17th April 2017.
 
The results of the ballot will be announced at the Annual General Meeting on 27^th of April 2017 and published on The Council’s website at www.equityreleasecouncil.com by COB on 5^th of May 2017.
 
Nigel Waterson
Chairman, Equity Release Council