Shareholders of Samsung Electronics Co. head to their annual shareholders meeting in Suwon, just south of Seoul, on March 15, 2023. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, March 21 (Korea Bizwire) — As minority shareholders are actively engaged in shareholder activities, the number of listed companies introducing electronic voting systems for shareholder meetings is forecast to reach an all-time high this year.
At present, a total of two organizations — the Korea Securities Depository and Samsung Securities Co. — provide listed companies with e-voting platform services.
According to Samsung Securities, the number of companies that signed a service contract to introduce e-voting at this year’s shareholder meetings stood at about 820.
The number of such companies has been on an upward trend, rising from 278 in 2020 to 466 in 2021 and 640 in 2022.
Although there are some cases where companies do not actually introduce e-voting systems for their shareholders’ meetings even after signing service contracts, about 80 percent actually implemented e-voting systems after signing the contracts.
The number of companies that signed e-voting system contracts with the Korea Securities Depository this year is also estimated to be higher than last year’s figure of 974.
The number of such companies jumped from 659 in 2020 to 843 in 2021.
“Unlike in the past when general shareholders had little interest in shareholders’ meetings, they now have a stronger interest in corporate management and stock prices, thus resulting in the spread of e-voting systems,” said Lee Chang-min, vice-president of the Economic Reform Research Institute.
J. S. Shin (js_shin@koreabizwire.com)
