The inquiries, which came from 90% of individuals, focused on the minimum listing price of the securities and on the Abertis takeover bid. The Office of the Investor Protector of the Madrid Stock Exchange handled 13.250 requests for information in 2018, 2,3% more than the requests answered the previous year. 90% of inquiries they were made by private investors.
To this it contributes that the shareholders' departments of listed companies, the CNMV, the Bank of Spain and consumer organizations usually refer investors to this office, considering it a fast and neutral way to resolve their doubts about the stock market. The number of complaints received by the Office decreased in 2018 and the degree of conflict regarding the substance of the issues raised also decreased.
The variation of minimum trading price of the securities de la Bolsa, which went from 0,01 euros to 0,0001 euros, focused an important part of the requests for information. Along with this measure, a requirement to contract batches of securities was established for those securities with a price of less than 0,01 euros. That is, if those values cannot be grouped into batches, they cannot be traded.
Inverter protector: functions
Many inquiries were also received on the occasion of the Abertis delisting takeover bid. Carlos Fernández, Investor Protector of the Madrid Stock Exchange, considers that in these cases the information channels with retailers should be strengthened. "Depository entities must activate the necessary mechanisms to ensure that individual investors are aware of the conditions and implications of the operation".
Since the creation of the figure of the Investor Protector, the purpose that this office has been pursuing has been, firstly, to prevent and avoid claims and, if not possible, to approximate positions and reach an agreement between the parties involved. The open communication channel between investors and the Investor Protector has two aspects: on the one hand, that derived from the information and training work, through the resolution of telephone inquiries, inquiries and answers about the shares traded on the Stock Exchange, the information on issuers and the operation of the market and, on the other, the resolution of claims.
Purpose of this service
The objective of the General Information Service is to communicate facts and basic data concerning the Spanish stock market as well as information on the operation of the referred market, all of this in order to contribute to facilitate decision making by investors. Thus, through the General Information Service, the existing information on the Madrid Stock Exchange on any subject related to the market itself is made available to interested investors.
The development of the informative function of the Investor Protector during 2018, channeled through the General Information Service, is synthesized in the data that reflects, on the one hand, the profiles of information seekers and, on the other, the matters on which such requests for information have dealt.
Demand for information
The private investor continues to be the main requestor for information, representing 90% of all requests for information, 4% more than the previous year. For yet another year it is verified that financial entities, when faced with doubts or general information questions about the functioning of the stock market They usually refer the investor to this Office, considering it a fast and neutral way to inform and clear up doubts about the execution of stock operations.
In this sense, the Investor Protector continues to be the most appropriate channel to give a clear and timely response to the queries that individual investors raise with it. This year before the Investor Protector an unusual number of claims have been received, which have been processed as information inquiries, since it was about ignorance of the investors before the applicable norms in the concrete cases.
Also contributing is the fact that shareholders departments of listed companies and, in some cases, the National Securities Market Commission, the Bank of Spain and consumer and user organizations refer the investor to this Office, considering it an adequate channel to resolve doubts related to the market.
Most claimed products
Information inquiries by market members have decreased compared to last year, while those of financial entities remain very similar. It should be noted that most of the information requests that come from financial entities are concentrated, in a special way, in the period of the declaration of the Income Tax for Individuals, and the rest of the year the consultations focus on the management of the testamentary of their depositors.
On the other hand, financial institutions continue to focus their interest on information related to historical changes in the securities of which they are custodians, to offer it, as one more service, to their own clients. Regarding the issuers of securities listed on the Stock Exchange, the same trend as the previous year is followed, since they collect very specific information, and their requests focus on the issuance of listing certificates on the occasion of corporate operations (dividend option, increases through non-monetary contributions, and swaps of convertible bonds into shares).
Finally, this year the requests made by the study services and the analysis department have been little relevant and the requests made by students in the search for data for the elaboration of works. Regarding the means used to make inquiries and obtain information, it should be noted that in 2018 the telephone continued to be the most commonly used means 6, followed by email, with ordinary mail almost completely disappearing, and appreciates a slight increase in the number of people who come personally to the Office of the Investor Protector.
Information object
In this year 2018, it is noteworthy that the information requested, which has been included under the heading of "others" in the table below, has focused on queries related to the daily stock market activity, special mention deserve the questions raised regarding the changes made in the Operating Rules of the Stock Market Interconnection System in order to adapt them to the provisions contained in Directive 2014/65 / EU, of the European Parliament and of the Council, of 15 May 2014, relating to financial instrument markets.
Stock information
Within the information that is requested from the Investor Protector, the following should be highlighted: the matters subject to request for information include a wide range, from the prices of securities quoted in real time (although these requests are gradually decreasing due to the existence of various computer tools that provide this data), to the most complex requests on details of the operation of the Spanish stock market (among which are inquiries on the characteristics of the different types of orders, and the way of assigning the trading units in the auctions ).
It is in these consultations where the Investor Protector exercises its informative work, ranging from how browse the website to obtain information on the Stock Market, through how shareholders of listed companies can consult information on the website of the National Securities Market Commission, to how to form an investment club.
Due to the content of certain information requests, it is appreciated that investors are acquiring more knowledge of the Spanish stock market, although they coexist with less experienced investors to whom it is necessary to explain the most elementary concepts of investing in the Stock Market, such as the price adjustments made by the market due to events such as the payment of a dividend.
Preventive nature of the actions
The role of the Investor Protector also covers the preventive aspect, since, as explained previously, it collaborates in expanding the financial culture of the individual investor, so that by having a greater knowledge about the operation of the Spanish stock market, possible unwanted effects can be avoided due to ignorance of its operation.
Most of the inquiries correspond to private investors to verify that the operations carried out by the intermediaries have been adjusted to the orders that the investor has sent and to the Contracting Rules of the Spanish stock market. Also noteworthy is the request for information on historical prices of securities admitted to trading on the Madrid Stock Exchange. This information is requested not only by private investors, but also by financial institutions, in order to offer this information to their clients, as one more service.
As has been customary year after year, during the period in which the Personal Income Tax return is filed, calls from individuals and professionals to collect information on the corporate operations carried out by listed companies and dates of acquisition of shares and acquisition prices.