Forum Home Page [see Broadridge note below]

 The Shareholder ForumTM`

Fair Investor Access

This public program was initiated in collaboration with The Conference Board Task Force on Corporate/Investor Engagement and with Thomson Reuters support of communication technologies. The Forum is providing continuing reports of the issues that concern this program's participants, as summarized  in the January 5, 2015 Forum Report of Conclusions.

"Fair Access" Home Page

"Fair Access" Program Reference

 

Related Projects 2012-2019

For graphed analyses of company and related industry returns, see

Returns on Corporate Capital

See also analyses of

Shareholder Support Rankings
 
 
 

 

NOTE: The summary below was superseded by an updated February 26, 2013 summary of the program as it was revised following changes in marketplace conditions addressed in the December 20, 2012 Forum Report: Adapting to a Consolidation of Communication Services.

 

Forum Summary

 

Public Interest Program

Fair Investor Access

 

The purpose of this public interest Forum program is to establish marketplace standards for fair investor access to decision-making information with the responsible use of available communication technologies.

The need for expanded use of electronic communications was recognized by both corporate and investor participants in the Forum’s recent “E-Meetings” program.[1] A special project was therefore initiated to develop processes enabling required assurances of legitimacy,[2] making it practical now to conduct investor communications with the same kinds of tools used by most companies for their other key relationships. To provide a sound foundation for the needed adaptations by corporate managers and their solution providers, it will be important to define standards for determining investor acceptance of new processes.

The program is expected to include the following activities in a publicly open process for establishing informed consensus support of key marketplace constituencies:

▪ Review of demonstration projects – reports of plans, tests and live demonstrations of investor communications that are relevant to issues being considered by Forum participants

▪ Project workshops – informal collaborations of relevant experts invited to address narrow interests such as investor privacy policies or solution provider questions about administrative requirements, and to guide the definition of issues for broader Forum consideration

▪ Weekly reviews – professional journalist summaries of program progress, demonstration projects, marketplace developments, relevant news articles, and views of program participants; during the period leading up to and following to program's open meeting, distributed by email and posted on the Forum website for archive reference

▪ Proposals of standards for consideration – presentation of proposed standards developed by members of the Program Panel, invited experts and other interested Forum participants

▪ Open meeting – publicly open exchange of Forum participant views concerning proposed standards and issues to be considered; to be scheduled for September 2012

▪ Report of consensus standards – final report of consensus standards established by Forum participants and a summary of any significant views not supported by apparent consensus, as approved by the Program Panel and with any comments submitted by its individual members

This program was initiated to address issues and objectives identified by participants in the Forum’s public interest E-Meetings program, which had been conducted to address the use of electronic communications specifically in relation to shareholder meetings. Some of the members of the E-Meetings Program Panel have therefore been asked to provide continuing guidance as members of the Program Panel for Fair Investor Access.

Participation in this Forum program is open, free of charge, to all marketplace decision-makers and the professionals who advise them, according to the Forum's standard Conditions of Participation.

 

July 20, 2012

Forum chairman:

Gary Lutin

Lutin & Company, 575 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10022

Telephone: 212-605-0335

Email: gl@shareholderforum.com

 

Program Panel:

Barbara Blackford, The Conference Board

Heather Brilliant, Morningstar

*Margaret M. Foran, Prudential Financial

*James Kristie, Directors & Boards

Jeffrey D. Morgan, National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI)

*David A. Silverman, Blue Harbour Group and New York Society of Security Analysts (NYSSA)

*Timothy Smith, Walden Asset Management

*Members of the Forum’s 2010 Program Panel for Electronic Participation in Shareholder Meetings (“E-Meetings”)

 

[2] The Shareholder Forum supported a project with the Securities Transfer Association (“STA”) that developed patent-pending processes for online verification of investor identity and stock ownership, with a commitment to make the processes openly available to any corporate communication host or solution provider.
 

This Forum program was open, free of charge, to anyone concerned with investor interests in the development of marketplace standards for expanded access to information for securities valuation and shareholder voting decisions. As stated in the posted Conditions of Participation, the purpose of this public Forum's program was to provide decision-makers with access to information and a free exchange of views on the issues presented in the program's Forum Summary. Each participant was expected to make independent use of information obtained through the Forum, subject to the privacy rights of other participants.  It is a Forum rule that participants will not be identified or quoted without their explicit permission.

This Forum program was initiated in 2012 in collaboration with The Conference Board and with Thomson Reuters support of communication technologies to address issues and objectives defined by participants in the 2010 "E-Meetings" program relevant to broad public interests in marketplace practices. The website is being maintained to provide continuing reports of the issues addressed in the program, as summarized in the January 5, 2015 Forum Report of Conclusions.

Inquiries about this Forum program and requests to be included in its distribution list may be addressed to access@shareholderforum.com.

The information provided to Forum participants is intended for their private reference, and permission has not been granted for the republishing of any copyrighted material. The material presented on this web site is the responsibility of Gary Lutin, as chairman of the Shareholder Forum.

Shareholder Forum™ is a trademark owned by The Shareholder Forum, Inc., for the programs conducted since 1999 to support investor access to decision-making information. It should be noted that we have no responsibility for the services that Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc., introduced for review in the Forum's 2010 "E-Meetings" program and has since been offering with the “Shareholder Forum” name, and we have asked Broadridge to use a different name that does not suggest our support or endorsement.