Broadridge connects with South Africa’s principal central securities depository and central collateral platform, Strate, to extend the proxy voting process in the region.
The firms have now completed the integration of their respective end-to-end processing solutions to achieve this objective, which aims to drive greater levels of shareholder engagement by institutional and retail investors at national and international levels.
Broadridge says its community of global and domestic banks and brokers, as well as custodians, can use the service to streamline processes and achieve operational efficiency throughout the proxy voting lifecycle in South Africa, while also supporting their compliance obligations under South Africa’s Companies Act.
Delivered in collaboration with the Central Securities Depository Participants (CSDPs), the service allows users to obtain receipt of “golden copy” digital meeting notifications sourced directly from Strate.
In addition, the firms indicate that users will have a “significantly extended” voting window for underlying clients of up to meeting-date-minus-one, and enhanced transparency through confirmation of votes submitted.
Commenting on the collaboration, Demi Derem, general manager of international investor communication solutions at Broadridge, says: “We are excited to launch our fully digital South African voting service, supporting the growing desire of investors globally who want to exercise their corporate governance entitlements in this very strategic market.
“Our successful collaboration with Strate represents another critical step in linking leading providers at the heart of financial infrastructure with our network of global investors to enable seamless investor voting and engagement.”
Llewelyn Ford, SBSA head of investor services, South Africa, adds: “The partnership with Strate and Broadridge cements Standard Bank’s promise of delivering continuous value to our clients, offering flexibility in choosing a proxy voting execution partner, providing better voting deadlines, delivering enhanced proxy disclosure information, as well as moving towards fully digital and automated electronic voting solutions.
“This development moves the market closer to achieving the desired level of efficiency and lowers risk in the proxy voting environment.”
