*****RE: IRI *******
I found this posted on a bulletin board at "Money Search.Com":
moneysearch.com
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Date:
12 17 1997 14:44:59
Name:
Investors Research Institute, Inc
Subject:
INVESTOR'S RIGHTS VOTE
Message:
For immediate Release on eWIRE / Wednesday, December 17, 1997
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YOUR INPUT REQUESTED: INVESTOR RIGHTS
Roger North heads IRI Task Force -- Your ideas needed.
The Board of Directors of the non-profit Investors Research Institute, Inc., has established a Task Force on Investor Rights to articulate a clear statement of what shareholders and investors have a right to expect when determining whether to buy, sell or hold the securities of a public company.
The Task Force, headed by Euless, Tx. financial consultant Roger North, will make recommendations to delegates to the North American Small Caps Summit, scheduled in collaboration with the Money Show in Orlando February 5-6, 1998. North said he is especially interested in the ideas of individual traders and investors who will be most impacted by the panel's findings.
The Task Force has the benefit of an 'Investor Bill of Rights', produced by the North American Securities Administrators Association, Inc. (NASAA) released October 27. According to North, the NASAA document primarily addresses how individuals investing through full-service brokerages and mutual funds can guard against securities fraud and abuse, but does not clearly delineate the reasonable expectations of today's self-empowered investor to receive and be able to apply adequate information not only about public companies but also about the often conflicting dynamics of the small caps marketplace.
North asks that those who are willing to serve on the Task Force, who wish to suggest clauses in the Investor Rights package, or who wish to vote for or against the inclusion of specific clauses e-mail iri@netcapital.com. Please put in the subject line: 'Joining Task Force', 'Suggesting Clauses', or 'Voting on Clauses'.
The NASAA document follows, stating that investors have a right to:
1. Ask for and receive information from a firm about the work history and background of the person handling your account, as well as information about the firm itself.
2. Receive complete information about the risks, obligations, and costs of any investment before investing.
3. Receive recommendations consistent with your financial needs and investment objectives.
4. Receive a copy of all completed account forms and agreements.
5. Receive account statements that are accurate and understandable.
6. Understand the terms and conditions of transactions you undertake.
7. Access your funds in a timely manner and receive information about
any restrictions or limitations on access.
8. Discuss account problems with the branch manager or compliance department of the firm and receive prompt attention to and fair consideration of your concerns.
9. Receive complete information about commissions, sales charges, maintenance or service charges, transaction or redemption fees, and penalties.
10. Contact your state or provincial securities agency in order to verify the employment and disciplinary history of a securities salesperson and the salesperson's firm; find out if the investment is permitted to be sold; or file a complaint.
In addition, other clauses under consideration by the Task Force, would deal with:
11. Quality of information and disclosures from the company itself.
12. Ease of accessibility to company information.
13. Equal access to financial information available to Street professionals.
14. Availability of non-party professional analyses, and whether a company, contrary to prevailing regulatory thinking, should be expected to provide or reference all known timely professional reports.
15. Equal access to Level 3 trading information.
16. Concise information about the dynamics of market-making, legal and illegal shorting practices, number of shares in market-maker inventory and their acquisition prices, and differences in standards for OTC and pink sheet equities.
17. Advance disclosure of dilutive events, either by insiders or the company.
18. The reliability of financial and material data.
19. Enhanced disclosure with respect to letters of intent, including a time-line, and the potential risk of a non-event.
20. The ready availability of a summary of announcements made by the company for a five-year period, including letters of intent, earnings and revenues, etc. vis a vis subsequent actual events, and a history of share count changes, including splits and reverses, from the company's inception.
21. Equal access for small investors to a specified percentage of all IPOs, perhaps available on a lottery basis, and equal access to after-hours trading.
Please address your comments, votes or additional suggestions to the Task Force on Investor Rights at iri@netcapital.com.
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