James Marchant, himself a member, applied for access to the names and addresses of the West Bromwich Building Society in June 2010.
Marchant says the society failed to consult properly with members about changes to their holdings during the capital restructuring of the society in June 2009.
He wants to contact the society’s members in order to gauge interest in possible action to persuade the board of directors to revisit the terms of the capital restructure.
In June 2009, society members holding subordinated debt agreed to swap their Permanent Interest Bearing Shares (PIBS) for Profit Participating Deferred Shares (PPDS).
Marchant says the society has a duty to ensure PIBS and PPDS holders have yield equivalence. He alleges society members were not consulted properly and were “treated very unfairly” during the restructure.
He also claims the society gave PIBS holders misleading information before the restructure which clouded their decision.
However, the FSA has refused Marchant access to other members’ details on the grounds it is unnecessary to communicate his concerns directly to other members.
The FSA said PIBS holders are already able to discuss their concerns at AGMs and have done so in 2009 and 2010.
It added: “There is reasonable doubt that if contacted, PIBS holders… would support [Marchant], as they had already agreed on the capital exchange.”
