The Korea Securities Depository (KSD) is teaming up with global fintech firm Broadridge to link their systems and move the way foreign investors receive shareholder meeting information and cast votes at South Korean listed companies onto a single electronic channel. The aim is to improve access for overseas investors, strengthen market transparency and ease the so-called "Korea discount."
KSD said on the 29th that Chief Executive Lee Yoon-soo signed a memorandum of understanding on global proxy voting cooperation with Broadridge CEO Tim Gokey in New York. Kim Sang-ho, consul general in New York, and other officials attended the signing ceremony.
Under the agreement, the two sides will press ahead with linking Broadridge's ProxyEdge, an electronic voting platform for global institutions, with KSD's Electronic Voting Platform (EVOP). Agenda information for Korean shareholder meetings will flow through KSD and Broadridge to global institutional investors, while votes by foreign shareholders will travel in the opposite direction as standardized electronic messages.
Once the link is complete, cross-border voting — long delayed or prone to errors because of complex chains of intermediaries — is expected to become far easier. Foreign investors will receive agenda items from Korean listed companies more quickly, giving them enough time to review proposals, and will be able to vote across many holdings more easily, reducing the risk of missing information.
The two sides plan to hold working-level talks this year to finalize a roadmap for linking electronic voting for foreign shareholders, and to complete system integration and development next year. KSD will also invite Broadridge officials to a ceremony in Seoul in early November marking the launch of its electronic shareholder meeting platform, where follow-up discussions will continue.
During the U.S. trip, Lee also met Frank La Salla, CEO of the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), to discuss the U.S. experience in shifting to a T+1 settlement cycle, under which trades settle the day after execution, and the direction of building out infrastructure for security token offerings (STOs). Lee visited the consulate general in New York to discuss expanding Korea-U.S. financial cooperation and the steps needed to open a KSD office in the city. "We will use this as an opportunity to raise the global accessibility of Korea's capital markets, promote a Korea premium and solidify the confidence of global investors," Lee said.
