Taiwan Depository & Clearing Corporation

Taiwan Depository and Clearing Corporation (TDCC) held its 2014 special shareholders meeting at 2：00 pm on February 6, during which TDCC passed the resolution to acquire Taiwan Integrated Shareholder Service Company (TISSC). The record date of this merger has been set on March 17, with TDCC being the surviving company and TISSC the dissolved company.

According to TDCC, the acquisition of TISSC was aimed to improve the overall market’s operating efficiency and to align with international practices and trends. This merger was supported by both the competent authority and the Fair Trade Commission on the notion that economic gains produced as a result of the merger is greater than the adverse impacts induced by lack of competition, and therefore allowed the acquisition to proceed without infringement upon the Article 12 of Fair Trade Act.

In the future, TDCC will become the only electronic voting platform provider in the Taiwan capital market, which puts TDCC in the best position to provide the most efficient, secured and convenient services to issuing companies and investors.

TDCC and TISSC both offered electronic voting services for shareholders meetings held by domestic companies. The two companies have employed different hardware platforms to provide such services. For this reason, market participants were required to use two different systems to respectively connect to TDCC's and TISSC's services for offering electronic voting services to their shareholders.

After the merger, TDCC's electronic voting platform will continue its services to shareholder voting, which therefore eliminates market participants’ needs to maintain redundant equipment and enables standardized operating procedures that help improve market efficiency and reduce operating costs.

Platform integration with the creation of a unified system and opening up prospects to connect internationally has been an ongoing global trend in recent years, as far as the development of electronic shareholder voting is concerned. After TDCC becoming the only electronic voting platform provider, further steps will be taken to establish links with international voting services providers.

Foreign shareholders will be able to receive standardized and automated information on meeting agendas and shareholder-related news with the utmost accuracy and promptness, which ultimately protects shareholders' interests and enhances the efficiency of the market operations. The single platform not only delivers more secured and convenient services to issuing companies and investors but also contributes positively to the local industry as a whole.