Taiwan News
Date: 2016-06-08
By: Sophia Yang, Taiwan News, Staff Reporter

In this peak season for annual shareholders meetings in June, Taiwanese investors are privileged to vote at home with their mobile devices without having to go outside to suffer through unbearable heat; for foreign institutional investors investing in Taiwan’s securities, they can use the unique “Straight Through Processing (STP)” for cross-border voting. With the inherent strength of digital technologies, Taiwan is leading the way in the field of electronic voting across the world, which is partially driven by the Taiwan Depository and Clearing Corporation (TDCC), an organization less known by general investors, yet critical to ensuring the normal operation of Taiwan’s securities market.

As “Fintech” becomes popular and shakes up the banking and financial service industry around the world, Taiwan’s TDCC has been running ahead of its peers across the globe by building up teams running digital services and launching electronic voting platforms as early as 2009. Starting January 2015, the TDCC kicked off the STP mechanism for foreign investors to vote in various companies’ annual shareholder meetings at their convenience. This hardware-software integration has not only increased voting efficiency for foreign investors but also has made TDCC a role model among international depository authorities with its ground-breaking customer-minded services.    [FULL  STORY]