Proxy voting moves to the next generation of advanced technology with today’s announcement by Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:BR) that its ProxyVote.com platform will be available on mobile data devices such as smart phones and tablets in early 2011.
The announcement and demonstration was made at Broadridge’s annual Investor Communications Conference, held today in New York City, which attracts hundreds of top executives from the nation’s leading financial services firms, institutional investors and corporate issuers.
“Mobile ProxyVote is yet another of the technological innovations Broadridge has pioneered to improve and encourage more shareholder voting and enhanced shareholder communications,” said Joseph Vicari, vice president, business strategy and development, Broadridge, in making the announcement. “The sophisticated graphical user interface is customised to be used with an array of mobile devices – including the market leading iPhone, iPad, BlackBerry smart phones, and Android phones – and will seamlessly integrate with Broadridge’s ProxyVote.com platform,” he stated.
Twenty million proxy votes were recorded through ProxyVote.com for the 12 months ending June 2010. ProxyVote offers street name and registered shareowners, as well as 401(k), ESOP and ESPP participants, the convenience of voting their shares on the Internet, and now with the introduction of Mobile ProxyVote, through compatible mobile devices.
Until now, shareowners who had registered for electronic delivery of proxy materials and were notified via e-mail, would only be able to cast electronic votes via their personal computers. According to Broadridge, e-mail delivery of proxy materials is growing exponentially; nearly tripling from the annualised period ending June 30, 2006 of 27 million deliveries to almost 78 million deliveries for the annualised period ending June 30, 2010.
“Shareholder preference is shifting towards using technology to improve both their access to information and their ability to act upon it,” explained Robert Schifellite, president, Investor Communication Solutions, Broadridge. “As the market leader in delivering innovation to the proxy system and investor communications, this introduction signals a significant shift forward for shareholders and will increase participation, especially among individual investors,” he added.
