Citi announced on Thursday it has teamed up with Computershare to launch its new digital platform for proxy voting, Proxymity, through the company’s D10X program. According to Citi, by using a core algorithm to streamline the flow of information between intermediaries, Proxymity maximizes the accuracy and transparency of the current shareholder meeting voting ecosystem. The platform also removes inefficiencies by directly connecting the issuers to the investors. Paul Conn, President of Global Capital Markets at Computershare, stated:
“Our corporate issuer clients have long sought ways to more efficiently identify and communicate with their institutional investors whose investments are often held by nominees and custodians. Through this effective collaboration with Citi, issuers and institutional investors will now in practice both benefit from investors having more time to digest, communicate and convey voting intentions on important matters that are decided at shareholder meetings.”
Citi also noted that the platform was developed by employees of Citi’s Custody and Fund Services business. Employees participating in Citi’s D10X program are coached through a rigorous validation process led by Citi Ventures and supported by Citi’s innovation labs globally. The underlying Proxymity technology was developed at the Citi Innovation Lab in Tel Aviv. Jonathan Smalley, Co-Founder of the Proxymity Platform at Citi, added:
“As Proxymity continues to gain momentum, we are pleased to support a growing number of issuers and investors on the platform and meet users’ requirements for a simpler, faster and more transparent way of performing proxy voting. We look forward to working with Computershare and other key stakeholders across the proxy voting ecosystem to deliver further efficiency and bring additional markets onto the platform.”