In order to ratchet up the pressure at this key time I have sent the following open letter to the FSA which covers most bases I can think of. Please spread it around !

OPEN LETTER TO THE FINANCIAL SERVICES AUTHORITY
Dear Mr Turner & Mr Sants
I am writing on behalf of over 3,000 UK pensioners and individuals who have savings invested in the formers PIBS of Bristol & West Building Society and, more broadly, in the interests of millions of UK individuals who directly invest in retail bonds listed on the London Stock Exchange.
On Wednesday 29 June Albert Kempster, a 72 year old pensioner from Scotland, will be risking everything he has to appear in the High Court in London to attempt to protect the savings of the holders of these former PIBS from the actions of the Bank of Ireland which are grossly unfair and , in substance, both a breach of the terms and illegal under English Law. These actions are designed to render the former PIBS near worthless and what Albert is so bravely doing is what the FSA are failing to do as the sole UK financial regulator and listing authority.
Under these roles the FSA has statutory duties and objectives to promote market confidence and develop and enforce rules in order to provide an appropriate degree of protection for investors in securities listed on the UK markets.
The former PIBS were issued in 1991 in £1,000 certificated units. They were distributed via a placing agent to thousands of customers of UK building societies as a source of pension income. Thousands of the original investors, or their heirs, still hold the original certificates. The former PIBS were widely recommended in newspapers as a safe form of pension income.
Since issue the former PIBS have been listed on the London Stock Exchange (‘LSE’). In early 2010 the LSE established an Order Book for Retail Bonds (ORB) to promote retail bonds to private investors. A number of PIBS and former PIBS have been included on ORB and the former B&W PIBS are under consideration for inclusion. Since issue they have continued to be a retail held investment and the Bank of Ireland, which acquired Bristol & West in 1997, has been fully aware. This is evidenced by the fact that the former PIBS were the only issue of its Tier 2 debt, other than the retail held B&W Preference Shares, which the Bank of Ireland did not include in its institutional voluntary offer at substantially higher levels in 2010.
In 2007, with the approval of the FSA, the Bank of Ireland moved the former PIBS from Bristol & West to itself without seeking the consent of holders. It similarly varied the applicable law on winding up (the only remedy left for holders), regulation and failed to put in place a guarantee from Bristol & West on substitution as would appear to be required by the trust deed.
Despite not having been included in previous offers at higher levels the former PIBS have been included in the Bank of Ireland’s current highly coercive Liability Management Exercise on terms which are worse that those being offered to its institutional holders. In addition:
1 The proposed resolution is a breach of the terms of the bonds and, in substance, is illegal under English Law – the law under which the bonds are governed.
2 The repurchase by tender is in breach of the terms as the preferable equity option is not available to all holders alike.
3 The Bank of Ireland have not made provision for holders whose former PIBS are held in Crest to receive notice of or vote at the meeting where the amendment resolution is to be voted on.
4 The notice of the meeting is misleading as to the recent market price of the former PIBS.
5 Despite the Bank of Ireland being fully aware of the number and retail nature of holders it has scheduled a 15 minute meeting at a London solicitor’s office for the meeting. This is clearly inadequate, inappropriate and designed to prevent holders from being able to exercise their right to attend the meeting and vote on the amendment resolution.
6 The notice of meeting contained no telephone contact details for holders with queries about the meeting or voting. The only email address was one for Lucid (the Bank’s agent) and hundreds of emails sent to this email address by holders asking valid questions have gone unanswered.
The above actions and inactions on the part of the Bank of Ireland are a disgrace and not acceptable under any regulatory regime. Furthermore, the Bank of Ireland must have a Duty of Stewardship to holders of the former PIBS and its actions to deliberately fail to provide a fair and accessible meeting and vote on a matter of such economic significance must surely constitute a fraud under Section 4 Paragraph 4 of the Fraud Act 2006.
In addition it should be noted that, subsequent to its 2010 capital raising the bank announced and promoted on its website that it was strongly capitalised. It also publicised a Supplementary Prospectus for the former PIBS which indicated that they are senior to the ordinary and preference share capital of the Bank. The Bank allowed the former PIBS to continue to trade on the London Stock Exchange on this basis. Now the bank are seeking to effectively wipe out the former PIBS while leaving its supposedly junior ordinary and preference share capital intact as well as the preference shares of Bristol & West plc. This retrospective action infers that the Bank and its directors have allowed a false market to persist in the former PIBS for some considerable time. This must surely constitute Market Abuse under the Financial Services & Markets Act 2000.
Furthermore, the 2007 FSA approved Supplementary Prospectus for the former PIBS is misleading as to the nature of the issuer in the prospectus summary in giving the impression that it is a UK entity. The risk factors are also incomplete in view of events which materialised within a short period of time and there has to be a question of the accuracy and completeness of the prospectus as a whole.
It should also be noted that the Bank of Ireland has a UK banking license, a contract to provide retail banking services through the UK Post Office and takes advantage of the UK Financial Services Compensation Scheme.
In view of the information provided above it is hard to comprehend how the regulator of the UK’s sophisticated and leading financial services industry considers that it should be left to an individual pensioner to risk everything to try to protect the rights of holders. It should be noting that for all the posturing of the Irish Finance Minister about seeking to burn bondholders what we are talking about here is thousands of UK individuals and pensioners who invested their savings in a safe UK building society. Since then their former PIBS have been moved to a foreign bank without their consent and the UK regulation and remedy under the original PIBS terms is being denied them – again without their consent. It is the reckless actions of the directors of the Bank of Ireland which have led to the current position and these actions are a breach of a covenant given by the Bank to bondholders in the Trust Deed.
I therefore demand that the FSA finally takes action to protect the rights of the holders of the former Bristol & West PIBS. In addition the FSA must provide a commitment to undertake an urgent review of its regulation of issuers of retail bonds listed on the London Stock Exchange such that it ensure that:
1. Issuers of UK listed retail bonds act with integrity and fairness towards bondholders
2. Issuers of UK listed retails bonds comply with the terms of the bonds and trust deed
3. Issuers of UK listed retail bonds governed under English Law do not take acts which are illegal under English Law
4. The terms of UK listed retail bonds are written in plain English
5. Trustees of UK listed retail bonds are appointed and act in interests of bondholders
6. Meetings of holders of UK listed retail bonds are communicated to all beneficial holders and all beneficial holders are entitled to attend and vote without having to make special arrangements
I look forward to hearing from you as a matter of urgency.
Yours sincerely
Mark Taber