Irish Market CSD Transition Brings Upside in Real-Time Proxy Voting With Proxymity

LONDON, March 22, 2021 (Newswire.com) - Brexit's impact on Ireland has triggered a migration of the Irish securities settlement system from Euroclear UK and Ireland's CREST to Euroclear Bank. Under this new regime, there will be an increased level of intermediation, leading to reduced transparency and the potential to create delays in communications between issuers and investors.

This move means that Irish issuers could be burdened with additional risk whilst preparing for their Annual General Meetings. The indirect flow of votes and meeting announcements imposed by the migration could result in potential delays and inaccuracies, resulting in less time for end investors to research and make decisions. This would further affect shareholders' ability to change their vote ahead of meetings close, making it extremely difficult for issuers to engage with their investors in a timely manner.

In response to these challenges, the leading Irish issuer agents and major direct and global custodians have chosen to adopt Proxymity's proxy voting platform, Proxymity PV. Using Proxymity PV, issuers can send AGM announcements in real-time to end investors connected to the system either directly or via their agents.

• Major registrars adopt the Proxymity platform, representing 96% of Irish equity issuers
• Solution backed by global and direct custodians to connect issuers to investors in real-time
• As the Irish market migrates to a new CSD following Brexit, Proxymity set to enhance governance for connected Irish issuers and investors

Dean Little, Co-Founder and CEO of Proxymity: "We are delighted that so many in the Irish market have chosen Proxymity to address several concerns from issuers and investors relating to this transition. We hope to leverage the positive changes brought about by this CSD migration to provide new benefits that improve communication between issuers, agents, and investors for years to come."

To reduce cost further and improve access to these benefits, Proxymity has signed agreements to collaborate with major agents in the Irish market, Computershare and Link, as well as working directly with Kerry Group. The agents will relay all their issuers' meeting announcements to the new CSD in SRD II compliant format.

Joe Molony, Client Services Director, Computershare: "It's great to roll out our partnership with Proxymity into Ireland. The market needed a solution, and we are pleased to offer one that provides clear benefits to our Issuer and Investor community alike."

Proxymity's integrations with Computershare and Link are set to provide issuers with full transparency into investors' voting intentions, facilitating timely issuer and investor engagement.

Pat O'Donoghue, Managing Director, Link Ireland: "We are delighted to work with Proxymity and mitigate the effects of the CSD migration. Transparency is key to our industry, so this and the numerous additional benefits of Proxymity speak for themselves."

For any media enquiries:

Proxymity

Kobi Omenaka

k.omenaka@proxymity.io

About Proxymity

Proxymity's pioneering investor communications platform connects issuers, intermediaries and investors in real-time via its unique digital pathway, bringing efficiency, accuracy and transparency to every participant in the global custody chain.

Our solutions give public companies confidence that their AGM/EGM agendas are transmitted as "golden source" and provide institutional investors with the time they need to research and vote on corporate decisions, as well as actual digital confirmation that their votes have been received. 

Proxymity promotes enhanced environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) by improving communication between issuers and investors and making it easier for intermediaries to be efficient, timely and compliant when servicing their clients.

The company is backed by a global consortium of the industry's most influential financial institutions (BNY Mellon, Citi, Clearstream Computershare, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, J.P. Morgan, and State Street).

For more information, visit www.Proxymity.io

Source: Proxymity