Euroclear Nederland and Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. are launching an automated, ISO-compliant shareholder meeting notification service in the Netherlands.
As of today, Dutch and foreign institutional investors will be able to receive meeting notifications for equities listed on NYSE Euronext-Amsterdam and NYSE Alternext.
Euroclear Nederland, the Dutch central securities depository (CSD), will collect information from issuers and their agents and - in co-operation with Broadridge - distribute upcoming annual and extraordinary shareholder meeting notifications to Dutch and international investors in electronic form. The new service will enhance the flow of information between end investors and issuers by ensuring cost-efficient communication between all parties involved in shareholder meetings. The notification service is in line with the European Market Standards for General Meetings (MSGM), which belongs to a set of measures aimed at addressing the Giovannini Group's barrier 3 on corporate actions.
Hugo Spanjer, Chief Administrative Officer, at Euroclear Nederland commented: "The launch of the joint Euroclear Nederland/Broadridge service in the Netherlands is key in maintaining the momentum we have built to further improve shareholder influence in the companies they own.
The European Market Standards for General Meetings and the EU Shareholder Rights Directive are both aimed at increasing transparency and improving the level of automation associated with the proxy voting process. The notification service we are launching in the Netherlands today is an important milestone for investors in Dutch securities en route to achieving this objective."
Bruce Babcock, Head, Business Development Global Proxy at Broadridge added: "This service provides another building block for enhanced communications between issuers and end investors envisioned in the MSGM, importantly not only within the Netherlands but also for crossborder communications for issuers and investors in all the ESES markets - and beyond.
As the regulatory environment within the EU is further clarified with the implementation of the Securities Law Legislation and T2S, we look forward to continuing to work with Euroclear to eliminate the barriers to effective cross border proxy voting highlighted in the Giovannini Group report."
Euroclear Nederland becomes the second of the three ESES CSDs to automate company meeting notifications following Euroclear France earlier this year. Euroclear Belgium, the third ESES CSD, is expected to launch its notification service in the fourth quarter of 2013.