Strate, the company acting as the central securities depository in South Africa, announced that it had signed a deal with US stock exchange operator NASDAQ to implement blockchain technology for e-voting. NASDAQ will provide the distributed ledger technology (DLT) that would help companies and shareholders overcome the administrative difficulties associated with annual general meetings.
Strate will apply the blockchain technology at the heart of a proof-of-concept (PoC) project carried out back in 2015 at NASDAQ’s Estonian branch.
Strate is licensed by South Africa’s Financial Services Board (FSB) and develops technologies to store equities, bonds, and forex securities in digital format so that traders can exchange ownership of these assets upon a successful transaction. The company serves several stock exchanges in South Africa plus their issuer clients.
Tanya Knowles, manager of Strate’s Fractal Solutions division, said in comments on the deal:
“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. 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,” she added.
For Strate, DLT has long been an area of interest in the context of proxy voting. The company became a member of an international CSD Working Group that aims to create a framework for an e-proxy voting product under the ISO 20022 standard. The group also includes depository companies from Switzerland, Sweden, Russia, Argentina, and UAE.
We have previously reported that blockchain was tipped off as a solution for Procter & Gamble, whose latest proxy battle involved counting 2 billion votes.
Blockchain would have a major impact in any proxy voting context as it can increase transparency and security, as well as cut costs.
Lars Ottersgård, executive VP and market technology head at NASDAQ, said:
Read Again South Africa's Strate to Use NASDAQ's Blockchain for e-Voting System : http://ift.tt/2zAf7e7“A major indicator of progress in the capital markets is when technology not only bolsters performance, but also improves efficiency and transparency. 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.”
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