After 2018 and 2019, TDCC once again held a large-scale forum ahead of the shareholder meeting season this year. The forum was conducted online for the first time due to the pandemic, and there were over 300 listed companies, including about 600 practitioners signing up for the event.

The key issues of Forward-looking Shareholder meetings of TDCC’s Forum

According to TDCC, this years’ forum focused on “Forward-looking of 2020 Taiwan’s shareholder Meetings;” TDCC worked as the major organizer and Business Today the co-organizer. The major foreign investor in Taiwan, Blackrock, international corporate governance consultancy ISS Corporate Solutions, and Taiwan Institute of Directors to represent the views of foreign investor, international consultancy, and Taiwanese corporate respectively. They conducted discussions on crucial issues such as the election of directors.

As Chu Han-Chiang, TDCC President points out, according to a survey conducted prior to the forum, the shareholder meeting issue that poses the most pressure on the corporations in Taiwan is still the election of directors. Besides, the amendment of articles and the issuance of new restricted employee shares also bring challenges to corporations. TDCC expects that continuous communication and promotion can facilitate the exchange of local and international concepts, and therefore perfect Taiwan corporations’ shareholder meetings.

Responsible investment service is the new engine of growth in 2020

According to statistics, there have been assets with a total worth of 30 trillion US dollars managed through the “responsible investment strategy,” and ESG is also included in investment decisions; the communication with corporations on ESG issues after investments has been emphasized too.

As Chu Han-Chiang, TDCC President indicates, this event will mark the start of TDCC’s newly launched “responsible investment services.” Under the framework of IR platform constructed in 2019, responsible investment services include two engines of growth. One of the engines is the ‘Dynamic ESG Information Platform,” which TDCC plans to launch for domestic listed companies, institutional investors, and retail investors in July 2020. The platform will be the first public platform for responsible investment in Asia or even in the whole world. It will allow domestic corporations, institutional investors, and retail investors to join the trend of ESG information application.

The other major engine is to increase domestic corporations’ communication capability with international corporations. Specifically, the goal is to keep improving the cooperation with international voting consultancies and stewardship teams from major foreign investors in Taiwan. In this way, global trend and information can be brought to the corporations in Taiwan.

President Chu Han-Chiang states that in the future, TDCC will continue to develop the ecosystem of “responsible investment services” based on E-Voting services. The company will expand its cooperative relationship with both domestic and international investing institutions, international research institutes, and service providers. TDCC will also help to create corporate values and achieve the goal of linking up with the global market. In the meantime, the company welcomes domestic investing institutions to join in the effort of implementing responsible investments.

TDCC IR Platfor

• Five key issues of shareholder meetings in Taiwan

  1. Election of independent directors
  2. Election of non-independent directors
  3. Amendment of articles (acquisition or disposal of assets, extension of monetary loans, endorsements or guarantees, and derivatives trading)
  4. Amendment of articles (quarterly payment of dividend)
  5. Issuance of new restricted employee shares