In a press release on 24 October 2017 the French Financial Markets Supervisor (Autorité des Marchés Financiers, AMF) announced that, in light of the transposition of the new Shareholders Rights Directive (EU 2017/828), it will establish a Working Group to continue research on, and enhance, voting rights for shareholders in listed companies.
This decision is based on a paper issued by the AMF Investors Consultative Committee entitled ‘For an Effective and Transparent General Assembly Vote in the Digital Age’ - aimed at improving the regulation governing the functioning of the General Assemblies (in particular, voting rules and practices) of listed companies.
The report contained 31 proposals. Unfortunately a large number of these proposals, including the most important ones on the identification and voting rights of the real shareholders behind the ‘registered intermediaries’, were not endorsed by the AMF Board (‘Collège’).
Jean Berthon (Vice-President of BETTER FINANCE) and Guillaume Prache (Managing Director of BETTER FINANCE), members of the AMF Investors Consultative Committee, have been appointed to the new Working Group.
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