WHEN SCRIP GOES MISSING

Southland Times, Issue 23650, 27 October 1938, Page 8

WHEN SCRIP GOES MISSING

INFORMATION ABOUT LOST SHARES WORK OF INTERNATIONAL SERVICE The international movement of capital in the form of shares and similar securities is not what it was before 1930. Nevertheless, it is sufficiently considerable to render important any information about lost or stolen share certificates. Occasionally in the Press/ are seen notifications by a company of an intention to issue a fresh certificate in place of one which has been lost. These notifications, states The Sydney Morning Herald, are of great importance, for through them may come information to the company concerned of shares which have not been lost, but have been stolen, and have been innocently purchased by an investor. When there are international dealings the information of missing shares certificates becomes still more important. From its inception the International Bureau of Stock Exchanges has been considering ways and means of enabling stock brokers, bankers, and stockholders to be kept posted in a more adequate manner "than has been possible so far of notifications of lost or stolen securities in other countries, for when such notifications have been made, the securities affected are not “good delivery.” ■ A plan which has now been adopted follows proposals made by a committee of the Paris Bourse and is based on replies to a questionnaire sent by the International Bureau to a big number of stock exchanges. The solution adopted consists essentially in the organization of an . exchange of available information between those stock exchanges which are members of the international bureau.

Each stock exchange concerned will send information once a month directly to all other member exchanges. At the begiiming of January of each year the information supplied will contain a recapitulation of all information filed during the preceding year. The scheme has now been in operation since the commencement of the present year and at the last council meeting of the International Chamber of Commerce the president of the International Bureau of Stock Exchanges was able to report that it was giving very satisfactory results.