“Securities” allows shareholders to vote remotely to elect the members of the Board of Directors

23-02-2019 Media in \Abu Dhabi
The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA) issued Resolution No. (3) for the year 2019 amending Decree No. 07 / R for 2016 on the standards of institutional discipline and corporate governance of public shareholding companies. Good governance and good business practices.
Dr. Obaid Al Zaabi, Chief Executive Officer of the Authority, said that the amendment comes in line with the Blockchain Technologies and its use to improve and speed up procedures, save expenses, improve the environment, support sustainable development and meet the requirements of developing corporate governance standards. The company has been able to employ FinTech through the Block Shin technology as this is a top priority within the 2017-2021 strategy.
He added that the decision deals with the amendment of some articles to improve the procedures and in response to the requirements of developing corporate governance standards in addition to the amendment of some provisions of the decision on governance taking into account queries from companies and investors, making the shareholder able to participate more effectively in the vote and take important decisions affecting the results of business companies.
Al-Zaabi confirmed that the amendment included the addition of a new item (d) to Article 23, which allows the shareholder to vote electronically at the general assembly meetings of the company according to the mechanism followed by the markets listed in the company’s shares. Pursuant to the amendment, shareholders who are unable to attend the general meeting, On the agenda items announced by the company in addition to voting on the election and selection of members of the Board of Directors.
The Executive Chairman of the Authority pointed out that this amendment achieves the desire of the small shareholders to attend the General Assembly meetings and vote on the decisions and the items of the meeting, as they could not afford the transfer to attend the venue of the meeting, especially in the absence of distributions or the low proportion of distributions assessed by the company, The small shareholders vote on the election of the members of the Board of Directors and the selection of their representatives and helps to save expenses on companies by increasing the attendance rate of more than 50% of the capital of the company and thus avoid the company to hold a second meeting in the event of a quorum attendance at the meeting Of the public first.
Al-Za’abi said that the decision included the amendment of Article 24 of the Chairman’s Decision No. (07 / R) for the year 2016 on the standards of institutional discipline and the governance of public shareholding companies, allowing the company to notify shareholders of convening the General Assembly by sending text messages And e-mail instead of notifying shareholders in the traditional way – sending registered books by regular mail – which cost companies huge amounts of money and does not guarantee invitations to many shareholders due to changing their residence and not updating the mailing address of the financial market and the company. Of the shareholders to attend in view of the speed and ease of access to invitations and communicate with the largest number of shareholders as well as reduce the use of paper in line with the achievement of the State’s objectives in maintaining a safe environment and maintain environmental balance and supports sustainable development.