Get your money back
March 28 2011, 9:10 am
Northern European pension schemes are losing out by not actively pursuing class actions explains Stephen Everard, GOAL Group.
Class actions have long been prevalent in the US courts. According to Advisen, securities class action suits experienced a surge in the second quarter of 2010, then stabilised in the third quarter. However, class actions are not a phenomenon observed in the US alone. Indeed, there have been historical cases of class actions in France, Italy and Finland in addition to those currently under way in other countries, including Argentina, Australia, Belgium and Israel.
In a nutshell
- Northern European pension schemes are now pursuing class actions over an estimated €450bn lost on their investments in 2008, of which over €60bn originated from their US investments
- however, as many as 25% of these schemes are currently not participating in such class actions, effectively forgoing more than €1bn of recoverable funds
- investors, fund managers and custodians should be proactive in taking part in class actions litigation to recoup their losses, as they are duty bound to act constantly in their beneficiaries’ interests to ensure good corporate governance.
Read the full ‘Get your money back‘ article’ here.
