Nasdaq to Deliver Blockchain e-Voting Solution to Strate
November 22 2017 - 4:00AM
YASTEST
South Africa's central securities depository (CSD)
will leverage the solution to improve voting efficiencies and
increase shareholder participation in South Africa
STOCKHOLM, Sweden
and JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, Nov. 22, 2017
(GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Nasdaq (Nasdaq:NDAQ) and Strate (Pty) Ltd, the
South African CSD, announced today an agreement for Nasdaq to
deliver a new blockchain solution that would bring electronic
voting to the South African capital markets. The solution will
allow Strate, in conjunction with key stakeholders in the market,
to provide general meeting services and give shareholders an easy,
user-friendly and secure tool for voting remotely. The solution is
based on the successful proof of concept (PoC) developed for
Nasdaq's Estonia market. In addition, Strate will contribute to the
ongoing market development of e-Voting technology.
"We are very excited about our
initiative with Nasdaq and what it means for the South African
financial markets," said Tanya Knowles, Managing Executive of
Fractal Solutions, a division of Strate (Pty) Ltd. "One needs to
understand that the environment at the moment is very
administratively intensive, which means there are many
inefficiencies and risks associated with it. This is not ideal in
today's electronic age, as technology like blockchain can serve as
a solution. The solution aims to service our clients' needs across
the market from transfer secretaries to issuers, custodians, asset
managers and those holding shares in listed companies. Given that
it is an end-to-end solution - from the time a meeting is announced
and all the way through the voting process to the publishing of
results - it means that all stakeholders will truly benefit within
the process."
"A major indicator of progress in
the capital markets is when technology not only bolsters
performance, but also improves efficiency and transparency," said
Lars Ottersgård, Executive Vice President and Head of Market
Technology, Nasdaq. "By leveraging blockchain, we are able to
reduce friction in the voting and proxy assignment process and also
ensure that all information is transparent to stakeholders when
required and with the proper security, governance and risk
procedures in place. We are proud to welcome Strate and the South
African capital markets to the Nasdaq family and to support their
efforts in evolving their governance processes through new
technological innovation."
Benefits to Shareholders, Issuers
and Proxies:
- Remote participation and proxy assignment;
- Submitting votes before and/or voting during the
general meeting;
- Secure (multifactor) identification of
shareholders and their representatives;
- Information about meetings, agenda items and
management proposals is easily reachable;
- Full track record of assigned proxies (i.e. chain
of proxies) and casted votes;
- Online / real-time access to voting results;
- Data is saved in an immutable ledger;
- Transparency and auditability of voting results
for listed companies; and
- The end-to-end management of general meetings
from announcement to results.
Benefits to CSDs, Exchanges and
Market Infrastructures:
- Reduced complexity through end-to-end general
meeting administration in a single solution - from notification and
material distribution to voting management and reporting at the
general meeting;
- Enhanced insight through real-time data access to
securities holders, holdings and votes and ability to view full
voting history on a single account;
- Safety, security and speed benefits of leveraging
blockchain technology with a fully auditable view of actions
recorded in the immutable ledger; and
- A standard Application Programme Interface.
About
Strate
As a South African Central Securities Depository, Strate is
licensed to be an independent provider of post-trade products and
services for the financial markets. Its pioneering and innovative
solutions to deliver reliable exchange of value settlement systems
are built on an 18-year foundation of trust. Being internationally
recognised as a Financial Market Infrastructure, Strate provides
sound risk management and a world-class service, priding itself on
its high levels of operational excellence to support and promote
the safety and efficiency of the financial markets.
Strate provides electronic
settlement of equities, bonds and money market securities and
provides collateral management services. It offers an asset
servicing product range to augment the services it offers to
issuers in terms of the Companies Act No. 71 of 2008 and the
Financial Markets Act No. 19 of 2012.
It also identifying new
opportunities by exploring disruptive technologies.
www.strate.co.za
About
Nasdaq
Nasdaq (Nasdaq:NDAQ) is a leading global provider of trading,
clearing, exchange technology, listing, information and public
company services. Through its diverse portfolio of solutions,
Nasdaq enables customers to plan, optimize and execute their
business vision with confidence, using proven technologies that
provide transparency and insight for navigating today's global
capital markets. As the creator of the world's first electronic
stock market, its technology powers more than 90 marketplaces in 50
countries, and 1 in 10 of the world's securities transactions.
Nasdaq is home to approximately 3,900 total listings with a market
value of approximately $12 trillion. To learn more,
visit: http://business.nasdaq.com
Nasdaq's market infrastructure
technologies, including trading, real-time risk, index, clearing,
CSD and market surveillance systems are operated in more than 100
marketplaces, regulators, clearinghouses and central securities
depositories across the Americas, Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa,
the Middle East and the Caribbean.
For Media
Inquiries
Nasdaq
Ryan Wells
ryan.wells@nasdaq.com
Direct: +44 (0) 20 3753 2231
Mobile: +44 (0) 7809 596 390
Strate
Leigh
Bevis
+27 (0)11 759 5466
leighb@strate.co.za
|
Nicole De
Matos
+27 (0)11 759 5405
nicoled@strate.co.za |
|
Tanya Knowles
Managing Executive: Fractal Solutions
+27(0) 11 759 5317
tanyak@strate.co.za
NDAQG
This
announcement is distributed by Nasdaq Corporate Solutions on behalf
of Nasdaq Corporate Solutions clients.
The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely
responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the
information contained therein.
Source: Nasdaq via Globenewswire
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