ADP Investor Communication Services (ADP ICS), a division of Automatic Data Processing’s Brokerage Services Group, has launched its new generation of proxy services for global markets, ICS Global.
Previously known as Global Proxy Services, ICS Global provides outsourced worldwide proxy voting services for bank and broker custodians. It handles the dissemination of meeting information and voting tools for the custodians’ clients, the beneficial shareholders. ICS Global has moved away from a manually intensive fax-based model to use two proven electronic delivery mediums:
ProxyEdge – a proprietary software solution that provides electronic delivery of meetings, agendas and voting plus extensive record keeping and reporting functionality. ProxyEdge supports all sources of proxy voting research and advice. The system has been operational electronically for North American voting for over ten years, and is now offered globally in that format.
ProxyEdge Lite – an Internet product providing meeting announcements and agendas in addition to a fully flexible voting feature. ProxyEdge Lite has been utilised for over two years in North America and has been enhanced to accommodate the complexities of the global markets.
Uniquely, both tools are multi-custodial and, given the breadth of ADP ICS’s custodian client base, they are set to substantially reduce the volume of paper seen on the desks of financial institutions during “Proxy Season”.
Last year Global Proxy Services processed over 600,000 vote instructions across more than 30,000 meetings worldwide, in addition to the 200 billion US shares processed by ADP ICS. ADP ICS’s European office processed over 200,000 shareholder meeting notifications for nine Dutch companies.
In the UK market, ADP ICS is supportive of the CREST initiative for electronic voting as this will complement ADP ICS’s automated products and finally provide financial institutions with a true STP voting solution.
ICS Global is operated and supported in both New York and London, in recognition of the span of its customer base and the location of their underlying institutional clients.
ADP ICS has offered a global proxy notification and voting service in 97 markets since October 1996.