OREANDA-NEWS. Sberbank has become the first pubic joint stock company to propose its shareholders to use the e-voting technology developed by National Settlement Depository (NSD), Russia’s central securities depository. 99 shareholders of Sberbank used the option to receive the materials of the shareholders meeting remotely and to vote online at the AGM held on 26 May. In total, 806 shareholders representing 33.3% votes of the total number of voting shares participated in the AGM electronically (including those who used the e-proxy voting technology).

Maria Krasnova, Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board, NSD, said: "The e-voting technology was successfully launched at the meeting of shareholders of Sberbank, which confirmed the convenience and reliability of the new platform. We will be inviting all issuers to use the technology. As any other fundamentally new technology, e-voting will require some time to let people know about it, to trust it and to get used to it. However, even now we can see that electronic voting is becoming a part of the required corporate practices of the leading Russian companies."

Users of the service noted the convenience of the new technology. Access to the e-voting platform is provided via the Unified Authorization and Authentication System (UAAS) which is available on the State Services Portal. Sberbank shareholders could also use the e-voting service via one-time login and password received from JSC STATUS, Sberbank's registrar. The platform is bilingual: the interface, AGM materials, agenda items put to the vote were available in both Russian and English. This encourages more shareholders to participate in meetings by attracting the foreign audience.

Ms. Krasnova added: "The strategic task of NSD is to create high-tech services for our clients. E-voting is a revolutionary technology which allows a greater number of shareholders (including foreign ones) to take part in meetings, provides for increased transparency of Russian companies’ corporate governance and, consequently, raises the attractiveness of Russian assets."