To broaden its services related to new mandatory obligations under the updated Shareholder Rights Directive (SRD II) Cecabank S.A., one of the largest global custodian banks in Spain, has selected Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:BR), a global Fintech leader, to provide them with Broadridge’s leading global proxy voting solution.
The Directive aims to improve relations between shareholders and listed companies at the European level, making them more fluid, transparent and efficient. In general SRD II allows more transparency into shareholders, regulates the transmission of information between the company and shareholders, and encourages the involvement of shareholders in the corporate governance of listed companies, facilitating the exercise of their voting rights. Likewise, it obliges institutional investors and asset managers to develop and make public an engagement policy with which they must be consistent in the exercise of such voting rights.
SRD II marks the greatest change to European corporate governance standards and processes in recent years. It is global in scope and applies to all types of financial intermediaries, including banks and brokers, wealth managers and central securities depositories (CSDs) that trade or hold European equities.
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The solution is already live and is providing Cecabank’s wide range of domestic and cross-border institutional clients with a comprehensive and fully automated global proxy voting service. Cecabank’s move to adopt Broadridge’s solution comes as the Spanish government is due to sign off its transposition to make SRD II a compulsory legal requirement in Spain.
“We are extremely pleased to have chosen Broadridge as our strategic provider for SRD II,” said Luis Francisco Jiménez Aragón, Head of Securities Custody and Settlement at Cecabank. “As an established global market leader for investor communications, we know that they have the critical mass, deep expertise and reputation for service excellence to ensure the timely deployment of a highly efficient solution. We are very well-prepared and already in live operation, ahead of the Spanish authorities’ transposition deadline, and helping to drive higher standards of governance and transparency for our clients and other constituents throughout the proxy voting lifecycle.”
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