IML pioneers shareholder voting in Hong Kong
Date: 29 August 2007
Hong Kong's operator of mass transit railway system, MTR
Corporation Limited ("MTR") set new standards for shareholders by
becoming Hong Kong's first listed company to cast electronic votes
at an annual meeting.
Shareholders attending the annual meeting on June 7th at the
Hong Kong International Trade and Exhibition Centre used IML's
handheld keypads to vote instantly on their shareholdings.
Designed to replace the time consuming "show of hands" and other
voting methods, IML's efficient technology registered each
shareholder within seconds, automatically linking them to their
voting rights.
During registration, attendees were issued with a keypad and a
personal IML Smartcard. Smartcards are used to activate keypads and
automatically link shareholders to their individual voting rights,
based on the size of their holdings.
IML's system calculated votes instantly and provided a live
information feed to the Chairman, the CEO, the Legal Director &
Secretary, and the Scrutineer, allowing them to view votes and
display results to attendees in real time.
Reports on the meeting were produced within minutes, allowing
results to be released instantly.
James Wong, Computershare Hong Kong CEO said: "We had a very
successful annual meeting for MTR and IML has made a perfect debut
in Hong Kong."
IML's technology was launched at an annual meeting in 2005, and
is now widely used at annual meetings in the USA, South Africa and
the UK, by companies such as Coca-Cola, British Airways, Shell and
the Bank of America. This year, companies in Australia, Canada and
now Hong Kong have begun using the technology.