A consortium of central securities depositories has built a model for an international e-proxy voting product based on distributed ledger technology and embedded with the relevant ISO 20022 standard.
The CSD Working Group - comprising depositories from Russia, South Africa, Switzerland, Sweden, Chile, Argentina and UAE - worked with interbank co-operative Swift and Fance's SLIB to define the mechanisim for applying the ISO standard for adoption in DLT-based proxy voting architectures.
The objective is to re-use existing financial messaging standards to ensure cross-border interoperability and easier integration with existing market infrastructures.
Stephen Lindsay, head of standards at Swift, says: "Swift’s key contribution is in the area of standards, in particular the application of the ISO 20002 business standard in a DLT technology context. Use of existing business standards will be essential if DLT solutions are to be integrated into the broader industry automation ecosystem."
Proxy voting is viewed as a post-trade business process that would benefit from the introduction of a DLT-based approach capable of aiding transparency, guaranteeing finality and removing complexity for shareholders wanting to exercise their vote.