FCA proposes restricting sales of mutual society shares

It is proposing firms selling the investments to ordinary retail investors will need to ensure they have read specified risk warnings and committed not to invest more than 5% of their net assets. This is because it says most investors are unaware of the risks associated with share instruments issued by mutual societies. These include a lack of liquidity, the fact dividend payments are not guaranteed and that there is a risk of partial or complete loss of capital if the issuer gets into financial difficulty, the regulator said. FCA director of policy, risk and research Christopher W...