Artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain technologies have been credited for the hastened adoption of the recently-launched Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) ShareHub shareholder online communication platform.
This, as the local bourse has been steadily pushing tech adoption to spur stock market development in SA.
ShareHub is a centralised online mailbox and filing platform created to empower companies and shareholders by allowing them to maintain contact details and digitally access key information about upcoming events and initiatives, such as annual general meetings (AGMs).
It is the latest tech solution offered by JSE Investor Services, a JSE subsidiary that is placing innovative digital solutions at the centre of its revenue diversification strategy by introducing new ways to enhance products and services.
In December, the local bourse launched JSE Private Placements, a digital platform that connects private companies and issuers directly to investors.
In a recent interview, Carol Crozier, CEO of JSE Investor Services, unpacked for ITWeb how the market has responded positively to the new ShareHub service offering from the stock exchange, saying it now enjoys a significant share of the market.
“We have 227 000 boxesthat have been opened purely through JSE Investor Services, with almost a million mailing having taken place to date across ShareHub,” she says.
“With the acquisition of our own share plans business last year, we are now the leading share plans provider in the country. What this means is that we are able to tap into an unlisted registry market.”
The JSE Private Placement offering provides JSE Investor Services with opportunities to service them from a registry perspective.
Previously, shareholder records were kept on share registers, which were generally exported via Excel and manually updated, but this changed as a result of COVID-19, which accelerated digital transformation, giving birth to the new platform.
ShareHub is now a single point of access to all critical information relating to AGMs, such as notices of AGMs and annual financial statements.
“We are giving shareholders the opportunity to update their own records via a JSE product. This is a custom-made product, designed around the intricacies of historic shareholder data,” says Crozier.
JSE Investor Services has achieved excellent results, having seen increased interest for the product from shareholders of many companies, she adds.
“The main driver around acquiring this business was to ensure we started servicing the retail market more efficiently.
“Technology is absolutely an enabler behind this, and the main drive of the business is to look for efficient ways of digitising the business, both with AI and blockchain technologies.”
Crozier tells ITWeb that despite the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions, companies are still doing virtual AGMs, which has positioned JSE Investor Services for growth to accommodate current and future demand.
“Companies are tending towards hybrid meetings, where there is a combination of in-person and virtual participation. We believe this is the way forward, as companies reach far more shareholders by enabling virtual engagement, plus allowing the in-person participation if shareholders would prefer.
“We have an association in place with The Meeting Specialist, an enterprise development agency of the JSE with over 30 years of experience running AGMs. It facilitated the first virtual annual general meeting in the country as we went into lockdown in 2020. It is currently running approximately 60% of the market’s AGMs.”
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