Using digital technologies to strengthen shareholder participation

Abstract

The right for shareholders to vote and participate in corporate decisions is one of the fundamental building blocks of a well-functioning corporate governance framework. Digital technologies offer important opportunities to strengthen corporate governance by facilitating greater shareholder participation. This Going Digital Toolkit note takes stock of recent developments and lessons learned from efforts to allow shareholders to participate in corporate decision making via virtual meetings, including in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. The note also highlights the use of distributed ledger technology (DLT) and its potential to address the main challenges raised by the current corporate voting processes, in particular by facilitating the identification of shareholders by issuers and end-to-end confirmation of their votes. Despite these benefits, however, challenges remain that might discourage or slow down the pace of DLT adoption.