Claims Filing
FRT monitors and records all pending, filed, settled and disbursed Securities Class Actions and notifies FSL of the existence or likely existence of both the latest U.S and non-U.S global Securities Class Action claims (see Claims Monitoring section). With this information FSL then ensures that the following procedures are carried out using a clients’ historic and current trading data:
- Normalise all trading data (this is a bespoke collection, cleansing & tailoring of data);
- Identify all pending securities cases in which client holds or held eligible securities;
- Identify all eligible security positions and whether filed, settled or disbursed;
- Analyse client data versus the ‘Plan of Allocation’ produced by claims administrators;
- Precisely calculate a client’s ‘Recognised Loss’ using a claims ‘Plan of Allocation’;
- File complete and accurate submissions to claims administrators;
- Validate payments from claims administrators;
- Reconcile and allocate each payment;
- Handle payment to clients; and
- Conduct disbursement audits and all necessary client reports.
Identification & Data Mining
FRT proactively scours industry data sources to identify all cases and to ensure that every possible filing can be made (see Claims Monitoring section). This is in contrast to many back-office operations that are reliant on receiving and reacting to paper notifications which can be easily missed or sent to the incorrect address. FSL works closely with clients to ensure that all necessary data is captured, if necessary sending our technology team into a client’s office to assist and direct them in ‘mining’ the data which is critical to the process using data as far back as circa 10 plus years ago.
Analysis & Matching
FSL then electronically compares a client’s trading history against FRT’s proprietary database to ensure that all relevant matches are evaluated against pending, open or closed Securities Class Action cases and that all filings are factually correct, accurate and properly prepared. The integrity of the data is critical; filings with inconsistent transaction codes or data are routinely rejected by claims administrators, often without notification to the filer. Once the data has been verified and normalised (‘cleansed’): for example by trimming ‘white-spaces’ or removing erroneous additional digits, the filings must then reflect the exact specifications of that claim’s particular ‘Plan of Allocation’. FRT then verifies all ‘matched data’ as initially reviewed by FSL by way of double-checking so no possible Securities Class Action claim is missed.
Filing
Once all of the applicable investment positions have been identified, matched and validated, the filings are prepared and submitted to claims administrators. FRT has well-established relationships with these administrators, which allows us to know exactly what is required for a complete and acceptable filing. These relationships also provide us with a basis to dispute an administrator’s calculations when we believe them to be inaccurate and are invaluable when it comes to filings that may be late or even after a submission deadline has expired (see Case Study section).
A claim is compiled by our specialists using automated processes that publish the claim forms and supporting documentation in the exact format preferred by each claims administrator. The claims are delivered electronically or in paper format, depending on the settlement and administrator. Return receipts (USPS or electronic) are requested and tracked for every filing. Our team monitors the status of each filing as it progresses through the administration process. Any deficiencies and documentation requests that may be made by the administrator are managed by us.
Allocation & Reporting
When the claims administrator distributes the settlement funds, we correlate against the ‘Recognised Loss’ FRT have calculated for each claim. We then confirm that the amounts received from the claims administrator are either correct and are properly allocated to each individual client via direct payment to FSL or we revert to the administrator to query the quantum of settlement funds. Finally, FSL and FRT provide each client with detailed, regularly distributed reports that provide a complete accounting and audit trail. We ensure the client is paid electronically (rather than by cheque) within 5 working days.