Enhanced Compliance Solution Designed for Custodians and Intermediaries
LONDON (August 10, 2020) – Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (ISS), a leading provider of corporate governance and responsible investment solutions to financial market participants, today launched its Global Proxy Distribution (GPD) Shareholder Identification Service. The new offering is the latest in ISS’ suite of outsourced solutions designed to assist custodians and intermediaries in meeting requirements under the EU Shareholder Rights Directive II (SRD II), the deadline for which is September 3.
“ISS brings its market-leading understanding of the complex practicalities of EU regulatory requirements and specialist local market governance knowledge to its suite of solutions for custodians and intermediaries,” said Rudi Kuntz, Head of Global Proxy Distribution at ISS. “Intermediaries can outsource to ISS with confidence that our expertise and commitment will deliver high quality offerings and service to the market.”
Under SRD II, EU companies can request the identification of their shareholders on record with each intermediary. ISS’ GPD Shareholder Identification Service provides an outsourced solution to respond to any request on behalf of intermediary clients. Automated responses are sent to the issuer or their agent in a compliant message format and intermediary clients are provided with reporting of response messages distributed by ISS on their behalf.
The GPD Shareholder Identification Service augments ISS’ suite of outsourced solutions for intermediaries ahead of SRD II’s September 3 implementation deadline, by which intermediaries must offer a proxy voting service and comply with all articles relating to the transmission of voting and shareholder information to companies, investors and along the intermediary chain.
“ISS continues to innovate and invest in solutions and services throughout the value chain for the benefit of custodians and intermediaries, as well as our institutional investor clients broadly,” said Lorraine Kelly, Head of ISS Governance Solutions. “With more than 30 years of history and industry leadership, ISS is the most experienced, pioneering, and trusted governance and voting provider in the market.”
