PRESS NOTICE - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
UK Sets The Standard For Electronic Proxy Voting
Another key stage milestone in the development of improved shareholder relations and corporate governance was announced today with the formal
ratification of a standard for the delivery of electronic proxy voting forms.
The Electronic Proxy Voting Message Standard ('the Standard') is a major breakthrough for the corporate governance industry and helps to remove
some of the administrative barriers that are often cited as a reason for low levels of institutional shareholder voting.
The Standard has been developed over the past three years in close collaboration between the Institute of Chartered Secretaries & Administrators (ICSA)
Registrars Group and The Manifest Voting Agency Ltd, each working on behalf of their respective customers. These include quoted companies,
institutional investors and pension funds in the private and local government sector.
Tom Morrison, Chief Registrar of Computershare Services PLC, speaking as Chairman of the ICSA Registrars Group said: "Registrars are yet again
leading the UK securities market place in embracing change and offering services through technological innovation. Voting is high on the corporate
governance agenda and we are delighted to be able to offer our clients and their investors this additional facility. The success of the project
depends on a high level of take-up by investors and listed companies alike. We are confident that over time our foresight and investment will bring
benefits to all concerned."
Commenting on their involvement in the project, Sarah Wilson, Managing Director of Manifest said: "Manifest has long been committed to finding ways
of advancing the agenda of improved shareholder communications by acting as a facilitator in the governance process. We are privileged to have been
involved in bringing the project to this point, which has created a universal, open standard for electronic shareholder communication. The Electronic
Proxy Message Standard demonstrates how persistence and a commitment to development, combined with application of new technologies, can drive forward
change to the benefit of all."
All parties are keen to stress that although the Standard has been born out of collaboration between commercial organisations, the Standard will be
widely available to all market participants and is an open industry standard. Tim Clarke, IT Director of Manifest confirmed the point, saying: "It
would have been only too easy to develop an in-house standard for our exclusive use. Manifest first mooted the concept of the dematerialised vote back
in 1996. However, we felt that the growth of electronic shareholder communications would only reach critical mass on the basis of a commitment to
consistent quality standards with universal acceptance by all market counterparties.
Given the number of participants and their range of concerns, we were happy to invest the time it has taken to get the Standard right and meet a
wide range of requirements. Having agreed the format of the message as an industry standard, it will now be up to each participant to create and
develop their own front-end functionality and react to the competitive demands of the market place in their own way." Alistair Wilson, partner in the
Technology, Media and Telecoms group at City solicitors Travers Smith Braithwaite commented: "The adoption of this standard message format for
e-proxies is a welcome and pro-active step by ICSA and Manifest. It will greatly assist resolving the practical issues in implementation faced by
market users, following recent changes to the law enabling companies to make greater use of electronic communications with their shareholders".
Stephen Byers, Secretary of State for Trade and Industry has made known his views about the importance of both modernising the UK voting system, as
well as increasing overall levels of considered voting by institutional investors on a number of occasions. At a recent City conference he stated
that: "Intelligent voting is one of the tools which shareholders can use to influence boards, and that votes are an asset which shareholders can use
to increase the value of their investments. Along with Cadbury and Hampel, I believe that institutions should, wherever possible, register their
votes".
Background Note to Editors
Company law permits shareholders that are not able to attend and vote at company meetings in person to appoint a proxy, normally the chairman, to
vote on a poll vote on their behalf. Until December 2000, these proxy appointments could only be submitted in writing and required the signature of
the shareholder or the shareholder's legal representative.
In December 2000 The Companies Act 1985 (Electronic Communications) Order 2000 came into force with the result that documents sent and signed by
electronic means now have the same validity as written documents.
Neither the Companies Act, nor the Electronic Communications Order give direction as to the format of electronic proxy poll cards. While not giving
rise to any difficulty in a paper-based system, the logistics of managing a variety of electronic formats could have been a major deterrent to
companies and investors wanting to move forward with new systems.
The Electronic Proxy Message Standard ('the Standard') has been designed to meet the needs of institutional investors, who now represent around 80%
of all UK-quoted company shares. Share ownership in third party nominee accounts together with the seasonal volume of voting, can lead to
administrative difficulties when using paper-based systems. The Standard will mean that electronic voting agency services, such as those offered by
Manifest and others, can more easily communicate with a wide variety of registration service providers such as Computershare, Lloyds TSB Registrars,
Capita IRG and Northern Registrars and be assured that the votes in question are processed without difficulty due to technical conflicts.
London Friday 4th May 2001 14:00hrs BST
Return to News Index |
