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It is learnt from the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) lately that the SSE has completed optimization and upgrading of the SSE Online Voting System (OVS) for Shareholders’ Meetings of Listed Companies and added a new online voting platform (website: vote.sseinfo.com) after conducting several rounds of online testing together with securities companies. The new OVS will be put into formal use on January 26, 2015, after which investors can still vote online by logging on to trading terminals of securities companies designated by them, or log on to the above-mentioned online voting platform to vote after going through verification of shareholder identities. Besides, the SSE has revised the “SSE Detailed Rules for Online Voting at Shareholders’ Meetings of Listed Companies” (the “Detailed Rules” for short) for the new OVS, and specified relevant matters for online voting after the launch of the new OVS. The new “Detailed Rules” will be implemented on the same day of the initial operation of the new OVS.
According to an official of the SSE, such measures as the OVS optimization, the building of the new online voting platform, and the revision to the “Detailed Rules” are mainly for the following two aspects: first, to implement relevant requirements of the State Council and the China Securities Regulatory Commission on completely adopting online voting for shareholders’ meetings of listed companies as well as counting separately and disclosing small and medium-sized investors’ votes; second, to help investors to exercise their voting right and further provide convenience for them to vote online, thus strengthening protection of legitimate rights and interests of small and medium-sized investors and elevating the exchange’s service level.
According to the official, before the upgrading, investors voted in the OVS of the SSE only through the trading system; shareholders could not see proposal names and voting opinions when they voted, and they voted only according to such abstract numbers as order price, number of shares, and code, which caused inconvenience to voting and led to mistakes. To solve the above-mentioned problems, the following two aspects have been upgraded in the new OVS, which brings great convenience to investors’ voting:
First, a more visualized and user-friendly online voting interface has been provided by referring to webpage mode. It has greatly improved users’ experience, offered visualized presentation and visibility of proposal names and investors’ voting opinions for shareholders’ meetings, and made the online voting interface all the more friendly, which helps to encourage investors to involve themselves into shareholders’ meetings. It is learnt that some details in the new OVS further show humanized designs. For example, the “Select All” button enables shareholders to vote for all proposals or a particular proposal group through “One Click”, and error reminds and notes are also provided when voting.
Second, a voting channel has been added. Apart from the previous single trading-system-based voting platform, an online voting platform has been added. Investors thus can vote through the voting platform of the trading system by logging on to trading terminals of securities companies designated by them, or vote after logging on to the online voting platform and passing the identity verification.
The official adds that the revised “Detailed Rules” has seen an array of adjustments to handling procedures, information disclosure, voting process, and other items in response to the new OVS, and relevant articles have been supplemented and improved in accordance with relevant requirements of latest policies and regulations as well as actual business demands. The revision mainly involves the following aspects: first, relevant business procedures have been adjusted in response to the new OVS, including operation standards for listed companies to formulate a notice of shareholders’ meeting and relevant supplementation announcement, and specific means for shareholders to vote through the new OVS; second, to implement the requirement of completely adopting online voting for shareholders’ meetings, listed companies are required, according to relevant regulation, to provide shareholders with an online voting way when holding shareholders’ meetings and do well the organization and preparation work for online voting; third, regulations on online voting issues related to Shanghai Stock Connect, preferred stock, integrated securities account, and others have been made to support the development of innovative business; fourth, relevant articles on online voting issues, including cumulative voting, voting avoidance, mutually-exclusive proposals, and others, have been supplemented and improved according to the business practices of online voting.
It is learnt that it took over 6 months for the SSE to upgrade and optimize the OVS, as it involved many aspects and huge workload. Through the upgrading, the parts that could be finally presented to investors are simply the improved interface and the added voting channel. However, online voting is of great importance, involving every investor, designated securities company, and listed company. Particularly, the upgrading decides whether small and medium-sized investors can conveniently exercise their voting right. Meanwhile, the accuracy and safety of online voting’s data transmission as well as the emergency disposal of possible abnormalities in the operation of the new OVS should be considered. Therefore, to ensure the success of the upgrading, the SSE and relevant parties have devoted a great amount of manpower and materials, and conducted several rounds of online testing for the new OVS. In response to the upgrading, securities companies have also fully upgraded over-the-counter systems and trading terminals for investor to ensure smooth voting channels after the launch of the new OVS.
