Broadridge Successfully Completes Proxy Vote Test with Santander in Spain

Broadridge Financial Solutions successfully completed a pilot test for proxy vote confirmation with Santander Investment/Corporate Services in Spain, in which share registrar Santander accurately received and executed a range of voting instructions coming from custodians.

Six custodians that use Broadridge’s Global Proxy Management solution participated in the pilot. Broadridge’s proxy vote solution sends instructions through the local sub-custodian network as well as local level account voting activity coming directly from Broadridge. After Santander provided reconciliation of the votes, Broadridge was then able to relay the vote confirmation through the voting chain.

“End-to-end vote confirmation has become an important area of focus within capital markets, and presents an opportunity for greater integrity throughout the overall proxy process, which in turn will lead to improved investor confidence,” says Elizabeth Maiellano, Broadridge’s senior director of product strategy and leader of the global team building Broadridge’s vote transparency solution. “Wherever possible, Broadridge is looking for opportunities where its solutions and domain expertise can help raise the level of transparency and remove any ambiguity concerning vote statuses.”

Broadridge is planning to support this pilot during the 2014 proxy season in both Spain and other international markets.