Proxymity Explained

Proxymity
Type:Private
Industry:Software company
Founded:2017
Founders:Dean Little, Jonathan Smalley[1] [2]
Location:London, United Kingdom
Key People:Dean Little (CEO), Jonathan Smalley (COO)

Proxymity is a digital investor communications platform that streamlines processes such as proxy voting and shareholder disclosure.[3] [4] It was developed and operated by Citigroup Inc in London before it spun out in 2020 to become its own company.[5] [6] [7]

History

Two Citi employees formulated the idea and started working on Proxymity as a digital proxy voting solution in 2017, and the concept was nurtured through Citi's D10X innovation program.[8] [9] [10] In November of the same year, four key institutional investors Aviva Investors, Legal & General Investment Management, Aberdeen Standard Investments and Robeco agreed to pilot the platform at four AGMs including one meeting from a FTSE 100 company.[11] [12] [13] In March 2018, Proxymity won the Global Custodian's award for Innovation in Securities Services Technology and would launch in the UK Market in that year and Australia the following year.[14] Between 2019 and February 2020, Proxymity was used in 561 Australian companies' AGMs,[15] and a total of 3,000 shareholder meetings in Europe and Australia by May 2020.[16] In May 2020, Citigroup announced that it raised $20.5 million from eight investors including The Bank of New York Mellon, Citigroup, Clearstream, Computershare, Deutsche Bank AG, HSBC Holdings Plc, JPMorgan Chase, and State Street Corp. and that Proxymity became its own entity after raising the funds.[17] [18] Proxymity has launched its services fully in The UK and Australia, and has completed pilots in Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium, Austria and Spain.[19]

In May 2020, Citigroup has formally spun off the Proxymity shareholder services business into a stand-alone firm.[20]

Description

Proxymity's core algorithm simplifies the flow of information by linking issuers, intermediaries and investors digitally.[21] Through Proxymity, shareholders are instantly notified once a meeting has been announced, benefit from market deadlines for voting which can give an additional nine days research and vote, and real time confirmation that their votes were received and recorded in the meetings.[22] [23] [24]

Notes and References

  1. News: Citi executives leave mailroom for the C-suite The Star . The Star (Malaysia).
  2. News: Digital investor platform Proximity raises $20.5m . . 7 May 2020 . he.
  3. News: Citigroup spins off investor communications platform Proxymity . . 5 May 2020 . en.
  4. News: Investment banks come together to back Citi spin-off Proxymity . . 6 May 2020 . en.
  5. News: Cincodias . EL PAÍS . La plataforma Proximity para conectar a inversores y emisores se independiza de Citi . . 5 May 2020 . es.
  6. News: Smaller banks grab bigger PPP share; U.K. launches 'bounce back' program . . 5 May 2020 . en.
  7. News: 50% of Goldman Sachs could work at home forever . eFinancialCareers . 6 May 2020 . en.
  8. News: Citi develops online shareholder voting system . Financial Times.
  9. Web site: Citi rolls out proxy voting platform . www.globalinvestorgroup.com.
  10. Web site: Hurst . Samantha . Citi Teams Up With Computershare to Launch Digital Platform for Proxy Voting . Crowdfund Insider . 28 June 2018.
  11. News: Product News . www.inservnews.com.
  12. Web site: Citi and Computershare Collaborate to Launch Innovative Digital Platform for Proxy Voting . FinTech Insight . 28 June 2018.
  13. Citi and Computershare Collaborate goes live with digital proxy voting platform - Global Custodian – The Leading quarterly magazine covering the international securities services industry . .
  14. News: Citi and Computershare Collaborate goes live with digital proxy voting platform - Global Custodian – The Leading quarterly magazine covering the international securities services industry . Global Custodian.
  15. News: Australian companies trial digital AGM voting platform . www.irmagazine.com . en.
  16. News: Citi spins off proxy voting platform to industry consortium . Finextra Research . 5 May 2020 . en.
  17. News: JPMorgan Chase among new backers for paperless voting fintech . Financial Times.
  18. News: Bloomberg - Citi Executives Leave Mailroom for the C-Suite . Bloomberg News.
  19. News: Proxymity Raises $20.5M in Strategic Funding . FinSMEs . 5 May 2020.
  20. Web site: 6 May 2020. Citigroup spins off proxy-voting startup Proxymity. 16 June 2020. American Banker.
  21. News: Citi launches digital proxy voting platform . Finextra Research . 29 June 2018 . en.
  22. News: Citi and ISS Launch High Frequency Connection for Proxymity Voting Platform . Global Banking & Finance Review.
  23. News: Dy . Gregory . Citi and ISS Launch High Frequency Connection to Enhance Proxy Voting . Finance.co.uk . 25 April 2019.
  24. News: Citi and ISS Launch Connection For Digital Voting Platform . Markets Media . 23 April 2019.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Proxymity".

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