2023 has been an eventful year for Proxymity. In this end of year round up, we reflect on a transformative year for both us and the Investor Communications global ecosystem. As we end the year, in collaboration with our network of partners and clients across the globe, we’re celebrating the launch of our proxy voting services in new counties with our Vote Connect Global solution services available in over 100+ markets. 

Proxymity has also been honoured to receive several prestigious domestic and international awards this year, a testament to our team’s collective commitment to revolutionising the investor communications industry. 

In 2023, we also hit an impressive issuer milestone in the UK with 70% of the FTSE 100 companies and over 50% of the FTSE 250 now using Proxymity’s platform for proxy voting. 

As we look forward to what next year brings, we wanted to take a moment to share our key highlights from 2023. There’s so much to cover we’ve had to split this into two articles – Read on for Part One!

Award winning news! 

We’re honoured to have won several awards this year, it’s a demonstration of Proxymity’s position at the forefront of developing and delivering innovative technology solutions in the sector. Check out our list of wins in 2023: 

● ‘Best Asset Servicing Technology Product Award’ at the Asset Servicing Times Awards 2023 

● ‘Leading Digital Transformation Vendor – Services Award’ at the Digital Transformation Awards 2023 

● ‘Innovation in Shareholder Disclosure Award’ – at the Savoy gala dinner hosted by Global Custodian  

● Financial Technology (FinTech) category winners at the US-based 2023 Global Tech Awards

● Proxymity was also honoured with the prestigious Editor’s Choice for ‘Fintech of the Year 2023 Award’ at the Global Custodian ‘Leaders in Custody’ Asia Awards held in Singapore. 

In addition to our wins, we were also shortlisted for several other awards 

● “Innovation in Custody” at the Asset Servicing Awards 2023 

● “Best New Asset Servicing Project/Initiative”, “Asset Servicing Partnership of the Year alongside Computershare” and Fintech of the Year for Projects in APAC” at the Asia Pacific Leaders in Custody Awards 2023 

● “Fintech of the Year” and “Transformation Through Technology” at the Global Business Tech Awards 2023 

● “Most Disruptive Financial Sector Technology” coming up at the FS Tech Awards in 2024. Winners announced in March, so fingers crossed for this one.

Expansion into new markets  

Vote Connect Global is here! 

Proxymity launched a new proxy voting solution across 100+ markets, enabling complete global coverage of general meetings for any financial intermediary operating across the ecosystem. Learn more about our Vote Connect Global solution here. 

Vote Connect live in Spain and Portugal 

State Street deployed its digital proxy voting service, Proxyity Vote Connect in Spain and Portugal. The deployment utilizes the Vote Connect platform’s advanced capabilities through its connection with Citi as their sub-custodian, discover more. 

Vote Connect live in North America  

In September, Proxymity launched Vote Connect in the North American market. This launch marked a breakthrough in digital proxy voting, offering transparent and accurate reporting and real-time processing to the North American ecosystem of custody banks, financial intermediaries and their customers. Learn more here. 

Proxymity, Citi and Computershare go live in South Africa 

Proxymity continued the trend of rapid global growth alongside with the launch of Vote Connect. In collaboration with Citi and Computershare, Proxymity now provides the South African market with the unprecedented ability to leverage golden source data, delivering investors communications in real-time and error-free, get the full story here. 

DNB and Proxymity launch compliant shareholder identification in Norway 

DNB and Proxymity launched our SRD II Compliant Shareholder Identification Service in Norway on the first day that the Shareholder Rights Directive (SRD II) came into effect. The Shareholder Insights service provided by Proxymity presents a transformative approach to compliant shareholder identification, effectively eliminating the operational and technological burdens typically associated with such processes. 

Clearstream and Proxymity to expand in Germany and Luxembourg 

Proxymity expanded our partnership with Clearstream to create a digital general meeting announcement solution in Germany and Luxembourg. With the new platform, our partnership will automate issuer investor communication to facilitate better proxy voting and corporate event communications. 

Proxymity and State Street launch in UK & Ireland  

Proxymity’s deep integration with State Street’s operational teams will provide continued access to state-of-the-art investor relations services for the firm’s clients. The end-to-end digital connection will enable State Street’s clients that invest in the UK and Ireland to extend their voting deadlines while enhancing transparency, accuracy, and speed. Learn more. 

BNY Mellon live in Belgium and France 

Utilising Proxymity’s full digital proxy voting service, BNY Mellon launched in Belgium and France with plans to expand to more international markets soon. We’re thrilled to be supporting their expansion efforts and collectively bringing benefits of technological innovation to the global financial ecosystem. 

FIS Proxy Voting by Proxymity 

Proxymity in collaboration with FIS rolled out FIS Proxy Voting by Proxymity. A multinational digital proxy voting solution for FIS customers connecting issuers, intermediaries and investors to ensure investor communications are delivered in time, discover how this new service offers excellence in transparency and communication. 

Researching issues that matter across the ecosystem   

As part of our mission to improve the investor communications ecosystem, we have been collaborating with partners throughout 2023 to surface and address the issues that matter to our customers and their clients. Our recent survey on Proxy Voting and Class Actions in collaboration with The Value Exchange, ISSA, FIS and Goal revealed that over 30% of issuers are unable to scale their shareholder engagement due to lack of visibility in the custody chain. Discover more insights from the report here and how Proxymity can help solve for these challenges. 

Further research led by The Value Exchange in Australia and New Zealand showed that beneficial Investor’s proxy voting windows are being squeezed by complex processes. Issuers lack visibility and inefficiencies lead to investors having between 21-23 fewer days to vote or confirm meeting attendance. The good news is that digital proxy voting solutions like Proxymity are already providing hundreds of Issuers and Investors in APAC and around the world with the real-time, transparent connected communications called for in this research. Get more insights and download the full survey report. 

Be sure to check out Part Two of our end of year round up, as we look back on other major milestones in 2023. Coming up soon!