Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (ISS), a provider of corporate governance and sustainable investment solutions to financial market participants, launched ISS Exchange, a streamlined, mobile-friendly voting solution, “to augment its Global Proxy Distribution (GPD) offering.”
ISS Exchange is the latest in ISS’ suite of outsourced solutions “designed to support custodians and wealth managers in meeting their requirements under the EU Shareholder Rights Directive II (SRD II).”
SRD II requires custodians and wealth managers “to notify their clients when shareholder meetings arise and provide them with the ability to vote on meetings within their portfolio.”
Given that many of their clients are unfamiliar “with proxy voting, custodians and wealth managers want to offer clients a simple-to-use, intuitive solution that provides meeting information for their holdings in a timely, easily digestible format, as well as the ability to vote.”
Kelly added:
“ISS Exchange allows custodians and wealth managers to offer clients a convenient solution to review meeting information and vote in a few easy steps,” said Lorraine Kelly, ISS’ Global Head of Investment Stewardship Solutions. ISS Exchange offers a highly streamlined client experience and is supported by ISS’ sophisticated market-leading infrastructure and technology for ballot generation and vote processing. “Our understanding of the complex market mechanics and local regulatory requirements, along with our global governance knowledge are key differentiators throughout our suite of solutions for custodians and wealth managers.”
ISS Exchange is fully optimized “for desktop, laptop, and mobile devices, and has a coverage universe of over 68,000 shareholder meetings annually across 118 markets.”
Custodians and wealth managers can “leverage additional premium ISS solutions, such as ISS benchmark and specialty research, GPD Communicator, plus ESG data and research, as part of their client offering.”
Founded in 1985, the Institutional Shareholder Services group of companies (ISS) empowers investors and companies “to build for long-term and sustainable growth by providing high-quality data, analytics, and insight.”
Comprised of seven discrete business lines and class-action claims management “that is provided by Securities Class Action Services, LLC, ISS is today the world’s leading provider of corporate governance and responsible investment solutions, market intelligence and fund services, and events and editorial content for institutional investors and corporations, globally.”
Clients rely on ISS’ expertise “to help them make informed investment decisions.”