You may be getting some good news if you forgot about that shoebox of stock certificates Grandpa had stashed in the attic. For the first time, broker-dealers will have a duty to reach out and find investors they have lost touch with under new rules approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission last week.
A similar rule already applies to recordkeeping transfer agents, the intermediaries between clearing houses and broker-dealers, requiring them to exercise “reasonable care” to find the correct addresses of those who no longer receive corporate communications or interest and dividend payments they are entitled to. The Dodd-Frank Act required the SEC to revise Exchange Act Rule 17Ad-17 and extend this obligation to broker-dealers, requiring them to provide notifications to investors who have not processed checks received in connection with their holdings.
