National Settlement Depository (NSD), Russia's central securities depository, has initiated a programme of corporate actions reform in the Russian market, including the introduction of e-proxy voting.
Drawing on support from the regulator, issuers, registrars and clients, the reform aims to implement new technologies and international standards through an electronic document interchange.
The first step of the corporate actions reform is changing shareholders' meetings procedure. By the end of 2014, the depositary will be able to inform clients about upcoming meetings of shareholders using ISO 20022 and ISO 15022 messages.
By May 2015, the depository plans to complete an e-proxy-voting procedure. In 2014, the use of e-proxy-voting during shareholder meetings was made legal.
The NSD has developed the e-proxy-voting technology in accordance with international standards. The company plans to introduce international formats for AGM notifications, and to provide new services allowing to take part in a meeting using the electronic document interchange.
"The opportunity to execute rights on Russian securities in a centralized way and in an electronic form will create a complex effect in the domestic market," said Eddie Astanin, chairman of the executive board at the NSD.
"Availability of the newest corporate actions formats approved at the international level will encourage foreign investors to make decisions in favour of the Russian market. This is an enormous responsibility, and we will exert every effort to implement the reform in the most consistent and efficient way."
Market participants will be able to mitigate risks and reduce costs associated with corporate actions by eliminating the use of traditional paper documents, using electronic technologies and involving recordkeeping institutions.