The revised EU Shareholder Rights Directive II (SRD II) entered into force on 3 September 2020. The SRD II aims to improve cross-border engagement among shareholders of listed companies. Banks and other financial institutions – irrespective of where they have their registered office – have to pass certain pieces of information concerning listed companies that have their registered office in an EU / EEA member state to the shareholders, making it easier for them to exercise their voting rights. Financial institutions are also obliged to make certain pieces of information concerning their customers that are shareholders of such listed companies available to the latter on request.
We have put together the key information on SRD II for you, as a customer, below:
SRD II entered into force on 3 September 2020. SRD II applies to all financial institutions that hold shares in a listed company that has its registered office in the EU or the EEA (hereinafter referred to as “company”) in custody for its customers. This means that customers of Baloise Bank SoBa AG that hold securities like these in their securities custody account are also affected by SRD II.
A company, within the meaning of SRD II, has the right to provide its shareholders with notification regarding company events. These include, in particular, invitations to annual general meetings. Baloise Bank SoBa AG will make this information available to its relevant customers. The transferring financial institutions may assert claims for costs incurred (proprietary and third-party) for the transmission of such information and processing of associated customer instructions.
If you prefer not to get such information on SRD II, please contact your customer adviser.
SRD II gives the relevant companies the right to establish the identity of their shareholders. As a result, Baloise Bank SoBa AG is obliged to send these companies certain pieces of information on customers that are shareholders in such companies on request. This information includes (insofar as it is known) the shareholder’s name and a unique identifier (e.g. passport number for natural persons and legal entity identifier [LEI] for legal entities), address and the number of shares held. Pursuant to clause 16 of the General Terms and Conditions, Baloise Bank SoBa AG is authorised to make this information available to the companies concerned. If this information is requested, no action has to be taken by the Bank’s customers. Customers do not have the option of opposing the disclosure of the required information to a requesting company. They can, however, always opt to make other investments to which the disclosure requirements set out in SRD II do not apply.