Manifest launches online proxy voting service
 

Corporate governance specialist Manifest has launched the UK's first online proxy voting service, Manifest VOTE Plus, in a bid to capitalise on the growing market for active corporate governance systems.
 

Online voting will become possible when the e-commerce bill is passed, possibly later this year. Another driver for online voting, the government's requirement to include corporate governance practice in the statement of investment principles (SIP) will come into force on 3 July. The cost of Manifest VOTE Plus is dependent on the number of transactions that take place, with the number of policies, stocks and custodians all increasing the expense.

Sarah Wilson, Manifest's managing director, said: "Active corporate governance is about spending money that pension schemes have never spent before, but it is also best practice. A scheme could go through the hassle of spending half a million pounds on developing their own system or use Manifest which already provides these services to fund managers".

Although Manifest VOTE Plus will be competing directly with the value-added services of the major custody banks, Wilson remained confident that the service will be more attractive: "We can provide a single audit trail and system rather than one for each custodian."
 

Pensions Management

February, 2000

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