RBS Rights Issue Litigation

We set out below recent updates and information to inform Claimants and interested members of the public about matters relating to the RBS Rights Issue Litigation:

Message for SG Group Claimants, March 2022

Due to the public nature of this message, it cannot contain information that is privileged or otherwise confidential to the SG Claimants as a group.

That said, we are following up on the update given to the SG Claimants in December 2021 when we anticipated making a payment of the final amount due to verified SG Claimants by the end of March 2022.

The ability to make that final payment reflected the resolution of various matters which we have described more fully in our privileged and confidential communications with the SG Claimants. Some of those matters involving litigation with third parties have taken longer to resolve.

Nonetheless, we are now in a position to arrange what we expect will be the final payment, with a view to that payment reaching all eligible SG Claimants as soon possible. The process should be completed around the end of March 2022. By the time cheques have been prepared and processed for individual Claimants it is unlikely that these will reach them before mid-April 2022. We will be writing to each Claimant with further information about their specific receipts in due course.

Once the remaining more minor matters that we are resolving have finally been completed, we will provide further information as to the overall outcome of the Rights Issue Litigation for the Claimants.

 

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“They are very efficient and effective.”

The Legal 500 UK 2022

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“The team is very well co-ordinated, and able to work with large and complex matters.”

The Legal 500 UK 2022

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“Excellent commercial drive and technical ability on complex international arbitration cases.”

The Legal 500 UK 2022

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“One of the very best litigation boutiques in London.”

The Legal 500 UK 2022

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“Signature Litigation is a market-leading boutique litigation firm. It has extremely strong background in big ticket litigation, with quality personnel and an unparalleled degree of focus and determination.”

The Legal 500 UK 2022

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“Exceptionally good at building up the dispute strategy.”

The Legal 500 UK 2022

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“Signature is a very professional team managing a complex international case across many jurisdictions. They have a very strong standing in managing multiple parties across different jurisdictions with different law.”

The Legal 500 UK 2022

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“Excellent banking team with real experience in claimant-led litigation. Senior Associates are particularly impressive: thorough, efficient and very sensible.”

The Legal 500 UK 2022

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“Great specialist knowledge with a pragmatic and commercial outlook.”

The Legal 500 UK 2022

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“The amount of deep thought that goes into each piece of work is quite extraordinary – I don’t know quite where the headspace comes from to do this time and time again.”

The Legal 500 UK 2022

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“They provide brilliant client care coupled with very sound legal judgment.”

The Legal 500 UK 2022

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“Experts in their specialist field. Nobody better.”

The Legal 500 UK 2022

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“Every member of the team is valued and as a result they provide a much higher quality of service to their clients than their competitors.”

The Legal 500 UK 2022

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“Signature is not afraid to look for solutions outside the box to get results for its clients.”

The Legal 500 UK 2022

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“The team is very well coordinated and able to work with large and complex matters.”

The Legal 500 UK 2022

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“The dispute resolution experts at Signature Litigation LLP have a particular focus on complex, cross-border civil fraud claims.”

The Legal 500 UK 2022

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“Signature Litigation is the only pure litigation specialist in Gibraltar, setting the firm apart from others in Gibraltar. The firm is very professional, knowledgeable and efficient, an ideal choice for litigation in the jurisdiction.“

The Legal 500 EMEA 2021

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“The practice unites an impressive bench of stellar litigators.“

The Legal 500 EMEA 2021

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“The boutique specialises in complex litigation, both in France and internationally, with the majority of matters multi-jurisdictional in nature, with the firm’s London presence a key asset for cross-border work.“

The Legal 500 EMEA 2021

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Signature Litigation Paris “quickly established itself as one of France’s finest dispute resolution practices and consistently attracts high-stakes, often headline-grabbing matters.”

The Legal 500 EMEA 2021

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“The team is attentive, available, very friendly, and provides unfailing follow-up to cases.“

The Legal 500 EMEA 2021

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“Great ability to establish a strategy and a very clear, structured and impactful line of defense or attack, based on a real mastery of legislation and procedures.“

The Legal 500 EMEA 2021

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“Excellent expertise combined with the ability to explain idiosyncratic concepts of French jurisdiction to foreigners.“

The Legal 500 EMEA 2021

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“The team is also highly regarded for its know-how in defending companies against toxic tort claims and deals with a high amount of claims brought by employees regarding asbestos and other chemical substances.“

The Legal 500 EMEA 2021

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Signature Litigation Paris is “the market’s go-to-firm for domestic and cross-border product liability cases.“

The Legal 500 EMEA 2021

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“The firm’s focus on dispute resolution and insurance matters makes it a popular choice for a range of clients in the aviation industry including airlines, constructors, and insurers who benefit from the department’s ability to advise on cross-border matters.“

The Legal 500 EMEA 2021

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“The team is very responsive – we would normally receive a response on the same day or early the day after. They keep us updated regularly, and are knowledgeable in their fields of expertise.“

The Legal 500 EMEA 2021

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“The team at Signature is highly talented, experienced and dedicated.“

The Legal 500 UK 2021

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Signature Litigation is described as a “quality team at every level“.

The Legal 500 UK 2021

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“Extremely bright and dedicated team. A willingness to go the extra mile and find a solution to whatever problem comes along however simple or complex.“

The Legal 500 UK 2021

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Signature Litigation has “‘the agility to deal with matters of all kinds’ and has particular experience in multiparty and multijurisdictional disputes.”

The Legal 500 UK 2021

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“The amount of deep thought that goes into each piece of work is quite extraordinary.“

The Legal 500 UK 2021

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“I am confident that they would always deliver a peerless service to the client, whoever that may be.“

The Legal 500 UK 2021

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“They are quite commercial in their approach and don’t escalate matters; rather they find the most efficient way to deal with things”

Chambers UK 2020

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“A highly respected litigation boutique with expertise in a wide range of contentious corporate matters”

Chambers UK 2020

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“They can really go toe to toe with magic circle firms”

Chambers UK 2020

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“An excellent boutique litigation firm”

Chambers UK 2020

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“They have really had our backs in a very innovative way”

Chambers UK 2020

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“They are absolutely brilliant – very good at the big picture, very effective communicators and very easy to get on with.”

Chambers UK 2020

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“Signature has provided us with steady-handed advice and I can honestly recommend their tightly-knit team to anyone in need of sound legal advice”

Chambers UK 2020

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“Noted expertise in handling cases related to alleged benchmark manipulation and mis-selling, as well as significant shareholder disputes”

Chambers UK 2020

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“Well known for its representation of high net worth individuals”

Chambers UK 2020

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“Prominent dispute resolution boutique with a strong record acting on behalf of claimants against major banks and financial institutions in complex litigation matters”

Chambers UK 2020

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“The amount of deep thought that goes into each piece of work is extraordinary”

Chambers UK 2020

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“Brilliant client care coupled with sound legal judgement”

Chambers UK 2020

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Signature “has developed a deep bench of talent, which means even with the high demand for their services they consistently maintain a high quality”

Chambers UK 2020

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“Highly responsive, intelligent and commercially astute lawyers”

Chambers UK 2020

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“They demonstrate the ability to formulate, plan and implement a sophisticated global strategy”

Chambers UK 2020

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“They are impressive in the way they deal with very complex cases”

Chambers UK 2020

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The Firm’s “tactical and strategic vision is unparalleled, and the practice has a great range of partners and associates”

The Legal 500 UK 2020

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“A strong focus on large, complex cases that are often cross-border”

The Legal 500 UK 2020

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“A highly experienced team of partners who have in-depth knowledge of commercial dispute resolution”

The Legal 500 UK 2020

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“Outstandingly successful”

The Legal 500 UK 2020

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Dispute resolution boutique Signature Litigation LLP handles large, high-profile professional negligence claims, often with a cross-border element, for claimants and defendants.

The Legal 500 UK 2019

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“Prominent dispute resolution boutique with a strong record acting on behalf of claimants against major banks and financial institutions in complex litigation matters.”

Chambers UK 2019

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“Noted expertise in handling cases related to alleged benchmark manipulation and mis-selling, as well as significant shareholder disputes”.

Chambers UK 2019

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“The firm is extremely focused on high-quality litigation”.

Chambers UK 2019

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“Their advice is sound and their strategic approach is excellent. I would recommend them without hesitation.”

Chambers UK 2019

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“Adept at handling multiparty and cross-border disputes, particularly those related to banking.”

Chambers UK 2019

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“They have a lot of experience in multi-jurisdictional, high-value litigation. They are a boutique firm that is growing in size considerably but which can still provide a personal, flexible service.”

Chambers UK 2019

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“The hallmarks of the team are that they are responsive, commercial, conflict-free, flexible … a client gets Magic Circle quality.”

Chambers UK 2019

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“Dedicated litigation experts with experience in handling every element of large-scale and highly complex commercial disputes, frequently involving multiple parties and jurisdictions.”

Chambers UK 2019

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“The practice advises on all aspects of large-scale banking litigation.”

The Legal 500 UK 2019

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“A first-class firm with a positive, collaborative culture of integrity”.

The Legal 500 UK 2019

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“A highly specialised dispute resolution firm, with a strong focus on large, complex and often cross-border cases.”

The Legal 500 UK 2019

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Dedicated litigation experts with experience in handling every element of large scale and highly complex commercial disputes, frequently involving multiple parties and jurisdictions.

Chambers UK 2019

  • Chambers 2023

Message for SG Group Claimants, August 2020

Due to the public nature of this update, you will understand that it cannot contain any confidential or privileged information. If you are an SG Claimant and you have not received our August 2020 Update by the week commencing 7 September 2020 then please do make contact with us.

We have been making and continue to make interim payments to SG Claimants who have verified and confirmed their payment details to us.

We have sent a number of requests to all the remaining Retail Claimants who have not yet been fully verified and from whom we need further information. If you are still in correspondence with us in relation to the verification of your claim and you have an outstanding information request from us, please ensure you respond to this as soon as possible.

Message for SG Group Claimants, March 2020

Due to the public nature of this update, you will understand that it cannot contain any confidential or privileged information. If you are an SG Claimant and you have not received our March 2020 Update by the week commencing 4 April 2020 then please do make contact with us.

We have been making and continue to make a first interim payment to specified groups of SG Claimants who have verified and confirmed their payment details to us. The first group of SG Claimants received their first interim payment in March 2018. The second group of SG Claimants received their first interim payment in August 2018. The third group received their first interim payment in April 2019. The fourth group received their first interim payment in January 2020.

We have sent a number of requests to all the remaining Retail Claimants who have not yet been fully verified and from whom we need further information. If you are still in correspondence with us in relation to the verification of your claim and you have an outstanding information request from us, please ensure you respond to this as soon as possible.

Message for SG Group Claimants, October 2019

Due to the public nature of this update, you will understand that it cannot contain any confidential or privileged information. If you are an SG Claimant and you have not received our October 2019 Update by the week commencing 4 November 2019 then please do make contact with us.

We have been making and continue to make a first interim payment to specified groups of SG Claimants who have verified and confirmed their payment details to us. The first group of SG Claimants received their first interim payment in March 2018. The second group of SG Claimants received their first interim payment in August 2018. The third group received their first interim payment in April 2019. Given that some further SG Claimants have since verified and/or confirmed the necessary information required for payment we are likely to make a further interim payment to those additional Claimants who have not yet received an interim payment in January 2020.

We have sent a number of requests to all the remaining Retail Claimants who have not yet been fully verified and from whom we need further information. If you are still in correspondence with us in relation to the verification of your claim and you have an outstanding information request from us, please ensure you respond to this as soon as possible.

Message for SG Group Claimants, March 2019

Due to the public nature of this update, you will understand that it cannot contain any confidential or privileged information. If you are an SG Claimant and you have not received our March 2019 Update by the week commencing 8 April 2019 then please do make contact with us.

We have been making and continue to make a first interim payment to specified groups of SG Claimants who have verified and confirmed their payment details to us. The first group of SG Claimants received their first interim payment in March 2018. The second group of SG Claimants received their first interim payment in August 2018. We are in the process of making a first interim payment to a third group of SG Claimants. For the avoidance of doubt, any SG Claimants who have not yet benefitted from an interim payment will still be entitled to an interim payment (provided they are fully verified and have confirmed their payment details to us).

We have sent a number of requests to all the remaining Retail Claimants who have not yet been fully verified and from whom we need further information. If you are still in correspondence with us in relation to the verification of your claim and you have an outstanding information request from us, please ensure you respond to this as soon as possible.

Message for SG Group Claimants, 8 October 2018

This is a further brief update for the SG Claimants in the RBS Rights Issue Litigation.

Due to the public nature of this update, you will understand that it cannot contain any confidential or privileged information. If you are a Claimant and you have not received our October Update by the week commencing 15 October 2018 then please do make contact with us.

We have now successfully completed our second interim payment to all Claimants who have (i) successfully and fully verified their claim (ii) settled at 82p per share and (iii) whose contact information had been confirmed to us.  If we have previously confirmed to you that you had provided us with sufficient information for us to submit your claim to RBS for verification and you have confirmed your current postal address to us, but you have not yet received an interim payment, this is because your claim has not yet been paid out by RBS.  Please rest assured that we are doing all we can to ensure that RBS verify and pay out claims as soon as possible, in the meantime we are very grateful for Claimants’ patience.  For the avoidance of doubt, any SG Claimants who have not yet benefitted from an interim payment will still be entitled to an interim payment in the third round of interim payments (provided they are fully verified and have confirmed their payment details to us).

We have sent a number of requests to all the remaining Retail Claimants who have not yet been fully verified and from whom we need further information.  If you are still in correspondence with us in relation to the verification of your claim and you have an outstanding information request from us, please ensure you respond to this as soon as possible.

Sunday Times Business and Money article, 19 August 2018

On the front page of the edition of the Business and Money section of the Sunday Times on 19 August 2018 an article sought to comment on the legal proceedings brought by Manx on behalf of the SG Claimants against those former Claimant members of the SG Group who left without paying their contribution to the legal costs that had been incurred on their behalf at that time.

The article carries a suggestion that the claim is being brought against the former Claimants (now the “Defendants“) personally by Mr Trevor Hemmings.  In fact, it is being brought by Manx Capital, which is a Claimant exercising its rights and responsibilities as the delegated manager of the litigation, through a board that does not include Mr Hemmings.  He is simply the owner of it, as one of many companies in a corporate group.

The Sunday Times article also contained a quote which was attributed to a source “close” to one of the Defendants alleging that the claim by Manx was for the former Claimants “not paying the bills that [Manx itself] is disputing“. This is factually incorrect. The true position is that Manx is claiming from the former Claimants their proportion of legal costs which have been incurred, paid, and which are not disputed.

If the liability of the former Claimants is established in respect of these legal costs, as we believe it will be, then at that time the Court can assess the full amount of their liability.  That may (or may not) include additional contingent elements that have not currently been paid because they are being disputed.  In the meantime it was therefore quite wrong of the Sunday Times to publish comments from the Defendants that our claim is simply for (or is “critically” dependent on) bills that are being disputed.

Regrettably the Sunday Times did not inform us that they intended to run this inaccurate quote, which we consider to have been sourced from the Defendants’ team without giving us the opportunity to correct it or even comment on it at any time before it was published.

We hope this clarifies matters for all Claimants, including those who have understandably been enquiring about this Sunday Times article.  We have asked the Sunday Times to act responsibly and correct it.

Update re the above, 11 January 2019

Signature Litigation and Manx Capital subsequently complained to IPSO about the above article, following which The Sunday Times agreed to add the following wording to the bottom of the article:

“Following publication of this article, Manx Capital has told The Sunday Times that the source quoted was incorrect in suggesting that Manx was suing the former claimants over the same bills as it is itself disputing. Manx has confirmed that the legal claim by them referred to in the article relates to around £9 million of costs and expenses that are not disputed anywhere.”

The IPSO ruling on this case can be found here.

Message for SG Group Claimants, July 2018

This is a further brief update for the SG Claimants in the RBS Rights Issue Litigation.

Due to the public nature of this update, you will understand that it cannot contain any confidential or privileged information. If you are a claimant and you have not received our recent update dated 29 June 2018, then please do make contact with us.

We are now in the process of making an interim payment to the next tranche of qualifying 82p SG Claimants who have now successfully verified their claim and provided contact information (i.e. those Claimants that have (a) verified their shares (b) provided relevant contact information and (c) who did not receive an interim payment in the previous round).  This payment should be with those Claimants in the next several weeks. If you do not receive an interim payment, this will be due to the fact that either:

(i) We have not yet received enough information to verify your claim – if you have received our correspondence requesting that you provide us with additional verification materials to assist us with verifying your claim, but have not done so, please provide us with supporting evidence as soon as possible; OR

(ii) We did not have written confirmation of your current postal address, and therefore were unable to send you a cheque – if you have not previously confirmed to us your postal address, or sent us correspondence by post, please contact us to confirm your current postal address; OR

(iii) RBS have not yet confirmed that your claim is verified, and therefore we have not yet received payment in respect of your claim and we were not able to make an interim payment.

If you have already received confirmation that you have provided us with sufficient information to allow us to submit your claim to RBS for verification and you have provided us with confirmation of your postal address we will not require any further action from you at the present time.

Once this latest interim payment has been made, we will have made an interim payment to a substantial proportion of the SG Claimants. For the reasons set out above, we have not yet been able to make an interim payment to all SG Claimants at this time. Please be assured that we are working hard to ensure that all issues relating to verification and payment are resolved for every claimant to allow us to make further payments, and we will keep you updated.

Article in the Mail on Sunday, 1 April 2018

In an article in the print edition of the Mail on Sunday today it states that: “Signature Litigation, administering the claim, has estimated that half the £200 million will be left for investors after costs.” We have not made or provided an estimation as to that amount, because it is impossible to know the gross amount until all the shares are verified and all costs and liabilities, including undisclosed liabilities of the Action Group Company, are known and resolved. We are continuing with our work to resolve the liabilities and finalise the amounts of further payments due to Claimants. Further information will be provided in updates to the Claimants. The Mail on Sunday has updated its online article accordingly.

Message for SG Group Claimants, 29 March 2018

This is a brief update for the Claimants in the RBS Rights Issue Litigation that are members of the “SG Group” whose claims were originally brought through the RBoS Shareholders Action Group Limited and are now managed on behalf of the Claimants by Manx Capital Partners Limited.

Due to the public nature of this update, you will understand that it cannot contain any confidential or privileged information. If you are a claimant and you have not received our recent update dated 23 March 2018 by Easter, then please do make contact with us.

As previously explained, we are in the process of making interim payments to a large number of claimants.   If you do not receive an interim payment, this will be due to the fact that either:

(i) We have not yet received the verification information we have requested – if you have received our correspondence requesting that you provide us with additional verification materials to assist us with verifying your claim, but have not done so, please provide us with supporting evidence as soon as possible and by no later than 30 April 2018;  OR

(ii) We did not have written confirmation of your current postal address, and therefore were unable to send you a cheque – if you have not previously confirmed to us your postal address, or sent us correspondence by post, please contact us to confirm your current postal address; OR

(iii) RBS have not yet confirmed that your claim is verified, and therefore we have not yet received payment in respect of your claim and we were not able to make an interim payment – if you have already received confirmation that you have provided us with sufficient information to allow us to submit your claim to RBS for verification and you have provided us with confirmation of your postal address we will not require any further action from you at the present time.

We regret not having been able to make an interim payment to all Claimants at this time.  Please be assured that we are working hard to ensure that all issues relating to verification and payment are resolved for every claimant to allow us to make further payments, and we will keep you updated.

If you have any queries about what is required from you, please call 020 3818 3590.

We ask that you bear with us in the meantime.

Article in the Financial Times, 19 March 2018

In an article appearing in the Financial Times newspaper today, reference is made to the settlement of £200 million received by members of the group of Claimants represented by Signature Litigation LLP (the “SG Claimants”).

The article refers to the settlement that took place almost a year ago, which was a reference to the settlement for the other groups. The reference in the article to 82p per share has been achieved by a majority but not all of the SG Claimants, as the Claimants themselves know.

However, the article referred to the verification process being undertaken by this firm (as part of the overall settlement process) and said that some institutional shareholders had already received compensation, whereas retail investors had not. That is not correct.

As the SG Claimants know from the newsletters and updates that we have sent to them, no Claimant, whether institutional or retail, in the SG Group, has received any compensation, for the reasons we have explained.

However, as we have advised all Claimants, we intend to make an interim payment to all Claimants, institutional and retail, who have so far verified. This payment should be with our Claimant clients by Easter.

The article also stated in its headline that the ongoing difficulties in verification and settlement had been caused by disputes between “rival investor claimants“.  As Claimants will know, the legal proceedings in relation to this matter are ongoing between Manx Capital Partners Limited (as the delegated agents and managers of the matter) and the RBoS Shareholders Action Group Limited (which was the former agent, but which has never been an investor or Claimant in the Rights Issue litigation).

We have informed the FT of the inaccuracies in their article and they have amended their website copy accordingly, here.

– Update 21 March 2018

The Financial Times has also printed a correction today on the Letters page, as follows:

Correction

  • A headline on March 19 wrongly suggested there was a dispute between RBS investor claimants who are represented by Signature Litigation LLP: RBS payout stalled by rival investor claimants. The dispute was between RBS Shareholders Action Group, a former agent for investors, and the current agent, Manx Capital Partners. None of Signature Litigation’s institutional or retail investor clients has yet received compensation, due to difficulties in the verification and settlement processes.

Message for SG Group Claimants, 20 December 2017

This is a brief update for the Claimants in the RBS Rights Issue Litigation that are members of the “SG Group” whose claims were originally brought through the RBoS Shareholders Action Group Limited and are now managed on the behalf of the Claimants by Manx Capital Partners Limited.

Due to the public nature of this update, you will understand that it cannot contain any confidential or privileged information. However, we can confirm that we have now written to all Claimants with a detailed update which should be received by each Claimant shortly.

To the extent that you do not receive the written update by 28 February 2018 then please do make contact with us.

If we have written to you requesting that you provide us with evidence to verify your claim and you have not already done so, please send copies of the relevant documents to us as soon as possible. Documents can be sent to SG-GroupVerification@signaturelitigation.com or by post to “FAO Verification, Signature Litigation, 138 Fetter Lane, London, EC4A 1BT.” If you have any queries about the information required, please call 020 3818 3590.

We ask that you bear with us in the meantime.