ISS and Strate partner on proxy voting solution 06 November 2023South Africa Reporter: Lucy Carter
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Corporate governance and sustainable investment solutions provider Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) has partnered with Strate, South Africa’s principal central securities depository (CSD) and collateral platform, on a global proxy distribution (GPD) project.
Through the collaboration, global and custodian banks using ISS’ GPD outsourced voting solutions will be able to use Strate’s central platform for the direct vote processing of South African issuers’ shareholder meetings.
Integrating the two organisations’ services will improve voting efficiency, corporate governance and transparency for investors, the firms say, streamlining the proxy voting lifecycle.
Rudi Kuntz, head of global proxy distribution at ISS, says: “Our collaboration with Strate enhances our GPD outsourced voting solution for custodians with global and local investor clients seeking to exercise effective investment stewardship in South Africa.
“The new arrangement removes a step in the intermediary chain for vote processing in the local market and provides institutions with extended voting deadlines. This benefits custodians’ investor clients by allowing more time for engagement and vote decision-making ahead of company meetings in South Africa.”
Gregory Naicker, head of CSD services at Strate, comments: “Collaboration is key for Strate as we integrate with ISS GPD to create further efficiencies for electronic proxy voting within the South African market. This milestone will afford ISS GPD clients with direct market access to vote and to connect with local issuers, thereby enhancing investor stewardship.”
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