| Broadridge Financial Solutions: Stock in Trade |
| Corporate Spotlight | |||
| Written by John Zorabedian | |||
| Friday, 01 May 2009 | |||
 Senior Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Chuck Callan describes how shareholder relations are changing under new government rules.
 Broadridge, which was spun off from Automatic Data Processing in 2007, provides investor communication, securities processing, and clearing and outsourcing solutions to the financial services industry. With more than $2 billion in revenues and more than 40 years of experience supporting the financial services industry, Broadridge works with hundreds of nominee custodian banks, broker-dealers, and their corresponding networks that utilize its investor communications solutions. Last year, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) enacted the Notice and Access Rule, which removed the requirement for public companies to automatically send shareholders a full, hard-copy set of annual meeting and proxy materials and allowed public companies to instead deliver to their shareholders a notice of Internet availability of proxy materials and provide online access to the documents. The SEC’s rule has changed the way some public companies communicate with their shareholders. According to Broadridge, the notice and access model has been adopted by more than 283 public companies since last July. “The Broadridge infrastructure has been an essential factor in enabling banks and brokers to effectively respond to corporate issuers that adopt the notice and access alternative,” said Broadridge’s Senior Vice President of Regulatory Affairs, Chuck Callan. The firm held a series of meetings and online seminars for publicly held corporations, banks, brokers, and the mutual fund community to help them plan and execute an implementation strategy that would comply with the notice and access rule. Broadridge hosted meetings in 25 cities and held online sessions, reaching more than 2,000 clients seeking help in planning their strategy. “We don’t opine on policy matters,” Callan said. “As a service provider, our role is to evolve our infrastructure so that it allows firms to respond to policy changes in the most efficient, effective, low-cost means possible.” Based on NIRI estimates of print materials and the USPS’s postal rates, Broadridge estimates that the 283 companies that have adopted the rule to date have saved $74 million in print and postage costs. The Notice and Access Rule creates a new set of requirements that can introduce additional complexity to existing proxy distribution and voting processes. Broadridge provides the systems, as well as the necessary levels of support and guidance, so that companies can meet these new challenges without burdening themselves with unnecessary operational and system changes. “Our in-depth knowledge of the new communication, distribution, and voting requirements, combined with our dedicated team of client service professionals, creates an efficient overall framework designed to allow companies to streamline and simplify the management of the proxy process,” Callan said. By taking advantage of Broadridge’s existing infrastructure, companies are saved the time and expense of handling the onerous process of proxy material distribution and vote collection and tabulation. “As environments change, we position for satisfaction,” Callan said. The firm is already working on strengthening its existing solution to accommodate the new business needs of its clients that will look to take advantage of the proposed SEC Summary Prospectus Rule, another shareowner communication process Broadridge is already keeping tabs on, ready to support clients after the rule is passed. Long view Broadridge’s proxy and shareholder communications business generated revenues of approximately $303 million in the second quarter of its 2008 fiscal year, an increase of nearly 6% over the second quarter of fiscal year 2007. “Broadridge is a company that is rooted in its core philosophy—being a premier service provider,” Callan said. “It is singularly focused on developing technology solutions that address the operational needs of its clients worldwide while providing unparalleled client service.” Broadridge is also a firm believer in the service profit chain, a continuous loop in which superior service builds client retention, resulting in profitability and shareholder value, which in turn leads to satisfied, loyal Broadridge associates to start the loop all over again. Broadridge associates receive merit compensation based upon client satisfaction levels, strengthening the service profit chain in the company’s culture. Broadridge associates seem equally committed to the philosophy. With more than 4,000 associates in 10 countries worldwide, Broadridge was recently voted one of the top companies to work for in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. “In the financial services market, there are countless operational requirements and regulated activities—investor communications among them—that can direct a firm’s focus away from its core business,” Callan said. “Broadridge has built its success on fulfilling those needs for financial firms so they can grow and thrive at what they do best.” |
|||
| < Previous Story | Next Story > |
|---|
© 2008 American Executive - RedCoat Publishing. All rights reserved.
American Executive is a RedCoat Publishing publication.
American Executive is a RedCoat Publishing publication.
