Broadridge Financial Solutions
and Euroclear have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)
whereby both firms are looking into forming an alliance to jointly
strengthen shareholders' governance rights by making it easier for
investors to vote
electronically at company general meetings.
Under the EU Shareholders' Rights Directive, currently being transposed
into Member State law, investors must have timely access to information
relating to general meetings and the facilities to exercise their voting
rights.
The objective of the proposed alliance between Euroclear and Broadridge is
to support the new regulatory landscape by offering an end-to-end voting
solution for issuers and their agents, financial intermediaries and
investors.
The services to be offered by the proposed alliance are expected to cover
securities issued in certain countries where Euroclear has a central
securities
depository (CSD) beginning with listed equities in the Dutch market, ahead
of the annual general meeting season in the first quarter of 2011.
Pierre Mahieu, Director, Euroclear Product Management, stated: "Our
alliance with Broadridge aims to deliver a faster and more efficient means
for shareholders - domestic or foreign - to vote at general meetings.
Together, we will look to improve processing standards and automation
levels for the voting process, in full accordance with stakeholder needs.
We recognise the call for, and importance of, proper company governance,
and have identified how we can play a more active role in alliance with
Broadridge. Euroclear's close relationship with European issuers and local
market shareholders, coupled with Broadridge's international reach and
leading-edge voting technologies, make a compelling choice for voting
services."
James O'Regan, General Manager, Investor Communication Solutions,
International, Broadridge, said: "Through this alliance, Broadridge and
Euroclear are uniquely positioned to accelerate the delivery of advanced
electronic solutions to the benefit of all constituents throughout the
proxy
vote processing lifecycle. We are strong advocates of the underlying EU
market reforms to raise governance and better enfranchise the end investor,
and our alliance is geared to delivering a highly efficient, best-practice
model across designated markets."
The proposed joint Euroclear/Broadridge offering, on an exclusive basis in
certain markets, will include:
? disseminating general meeting information
? managing pre-meeting registration for shareholders (where applicable)
? making available the technology to collect voting instructions from
shareholders
? transmitting voting instructions to issuers
? performing integrity checks on voting instructions
? providing vote confirmation of exercised votes
? eliminating many manual procedures involved in the voting process today.
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