18 April 2018 – Over the last few years, the European Union (EU) has been trying to facilitate the exercise of shareholders’ rights by updating the Shareholder Rights Directive (SRD II). The revised Directive itself unfortunately only provided limited improvements to shareholders rights as important barriers to cross-border shareholder engagement within the EU remain in place.
With the SRD II implementation deadline of June 2019 looming, the EC put together an expert group to produce the technical standards to guide national regulators in the implementation of the directive. Now the European Commission has made the draft Implementing Regulation (IR) available for consultation.
BETTER FINANCE is pleased to note that the IR takes important steps towards facilitating cross-border voting. By requiring intermediaries to process information between issuers and shareholders on a same-day basis, it ensures a much faster information flow and increased efficiency in the voting chain. The regulation also allows for new competitors to enter the hitherto closed intermediary market which will enhance competition and, as a result, hopefully reduce costs for investors. Keeping up with FinTech developments, the IR also clears the way for the use of new technologies such as blockchain.
Please read the full press release here.