CDC Engages Industry Stakeholders on New E-Voting Related Amendments

The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has recently made amendments to the Companies (Postal Ballot) Regulations, 2018 whereby the right to vote through an electronic voting facility must be provided to members of every listed company for all businesses classified as a special business under the Companies Act 2017. These amendments have especially been introduced to add greater value to the shareholders for their maximum participation by facilitating them to cast their votes with the accessibility of an e-voting system from anywhere in the world, thus bringing greater ease and transparency in the election/polling process while reducing/eliminating paper-based working at the issuer(s) end. Being the leading Share Registrar Service partner, CDC Share Registrar Services Limited (CDCSR), a wholly owned subsidiary of Central Depository Company of Pakistan Limited, recently conducted a series of awareness sessions regarding these recent amendments, held at CDC’s Karachi and Lahore Offices with representatives of listed companies. These sessions, hosted by CDCSR representatives, included a detailed presentation, system demo, and Q&A sessions.  It must be highlighted here that CDCSR, being a proactive industry leader, has already been providing e-voting services since 2018 and is therefore fully capable of optimizing the challenges faced by capital market stakeholders due to the subject amendments. These sessions were successful as the companies showed their confidence and willingness to opt for the e-voting solution offered by CDCSR for their upcoming events. CDCSR has successfully extended its eVoting facility to leverage the shareholders of the National Bank of Pakistan, Faysal Bank Limited, United Bank Limited, Askari Bank Limited, Allied Bank Limited, Sazgar Engineering Works Limited & Synthetic Products Limited, etc.