At this weeks annual corporate actions conference in New York a presentationby Gerrard Bermingham from Information Mosaic extolled the benefits of mobile technology carrying corporate action data to the investor. It is a really interesting prospect that could bring the decision making capability on a CA or proxy vote directly into the hands of the shareholder cutting out layers of risk and costs.

Of course during the debate the issue of security was raised. However surely this is old hat concerns as nearly everyone now days carrys out financial transactions over the web. Certainly passwords and the usual security measures found on the web would also be in play. If for example there was a particular contentious Proxy vote there would be closer scrutiny on voting to detect and unusual activity. The benefits outway any downside of this solution.

Creating an App for the mobile to be able to get into the hands of the retail investor would take time and it would need network providers, phone producers and Issuers among many to get involved. Even SWIFT under question accepted that they also could take part allowing web based messaging and access to their closed banking network. This really would be a red letter day. It shows though that SWIFT are finally moving with the times but i wont hold my breath.

Gerrard has opened up the possibility with his presentation and its worth debating the potential. I would be pleased to get the industry views on this