The Taiwan Depository and Clearing Corp (TDCC, 台灣集中保管結算所) on Thursday said it had unveiled an app to allow shareholders of listed companies to vote in the firms’ annual general or special general meetings through smartphones and tablet computers.
The app is the first electronic mechanism in the world designed exclusively for shareholders to vote in general meetings, the TDCC said. In the past, shareholders had to use PCs to vote if they were unable to attend the meetings, it said.
The TDCC, a government-funded organization that aims to reinforce the development of the local capital market, said that, as the peak shareholder meeting season is coming, the new e-voting platform is expected to allow shareholders more convenience to express their opinions on meeting agendas.
The peak season for annual general meetings is to run from this month to next month. On May 28, a total of 35 listed companies on the main board and the over-the-counter market are to hold their annual shareholder meetings. On June 2, a total of 81 listed companies are to meet their shareholders at the same time. A day later, a total of 41 listed companies are to call their annual general meetings.
The e-voting mechanism is expected to provide shareholders who have to attend several meetings at the same time with more flexibility in a bid to encourage them to participate in companies’ decisionmaking processes and tighten supervision on the companies they have invested in.
For foreign shareholders, TDCC said that it has worked with US-based shareholder communications solution provider Broadridge Financial Solutions Inc to launch a cross-border voting platform, “Straight Through Process,” which is expected to boost efficiency of shareholder meetings here.
Since January, the TDCC has provided foreign shareholders with English-language versions of listed companies’ financial statements and shareholder meetings’ agendas via the Straight Through Process platform.
According to the TDCC, a total of 23 million shareholders of locally-listed companies are expected to use e-voting in the upcoming annual general meetings this year.
Since the Financial Supervisory Commission has asked those listed companies, which are capitalized at NT$2 billion (US$65 million) or more and have more than 10,000 shareholders each, to adopt e-voting next year, the number of shareholders using the system is expected to rise to more than 28 million from about 500 listed companies.
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