Source: Northern Trust
Northern Trust reported today a significant achievement in its UK proxy voting services, with a record 99.6 percent of eligible shares voted electronically in July 2004 via CREST, the multi-currency electronic settlement system for UK and Irish securities.
In addition, the average level of total UK voting undertaken by Northern Trust's client-base has reached 80 percent, significantly higher than reported industry averages.
Northern Trust has offered an electronic voting facility since 2001, in partnership with Institutional Shareholder Services. However, since installing a new electronic voting capability which interfaces with CREST, Northern Trust has experienced impressive growth in the level of electronic votes successfully submitted on behalf of its clients.
"Since installing the interface, we've grown eligible share participation from 80 percent in April 2004 to an amazing 99.6 percent in July 2004," said Sheryl Muniz, Senior Vice President, Global Securities Processing. "Northern Trust continues to be at the forefront of industry initiatives in proxy voting. Our success to date reflects the importance of electronic voting in improving proxy voting efficiency. It also evidences Northern Trust's support for Paul Myners' recommendations in this regard."
The new interface adds another level of straight-through-processing to the proxy voting process, providing greater control and efficiency. It also enables Northern Trust's clients to take full advantage of the increasing use of electronic facilities by UK issuing companies, with 78 FTSE100 issuers announcing 82 meetings in CREST between January and July 2004.