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Sunday 22 April 2012

ICSA guidance on voting at annual meetings

Proxy votingFirst the good news: participation at company annual meeting in the UK is on the rise, with voting at annual meetings of the top 100 companies now above two-thirds of the shares in issue. The Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators takes heart in that, especially in view of the rise in share ownership by foreign investors, who have traditional been less likely to vote. But then there's the bad news: Criticisms of UK processes persist. Cross-border voting still seems to result in lost ballots. ICSA's Registrars Group blames a lack of clarity and loss of control within the intermediated forms of shareholding. Miscommunication of voting instructions and entitlements results in votes failing to be lodged. Into the breach comes new guidance, concerning the amount of notice needed, setting the proxy deadline and record date, how long voting should be open, what happens after the proxy deadline, and more.

Source document: The registrars' guidance note is a nine-page pdf file.

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