Euroclear Sweden has since the summer worked on comments to the proposal that have been submitted to the Ministry of Justice. Parallel to that work we have also had initial discussions with banks and financial institutions and with some of the limited companies that will be covered by the new rules. The purpose of these meetings is to enable a smooth transition for the Swedish market. The legislative proposals are suggested to come into force on 3 September 2020.
Update regarding new EU rules concerning shareholder rights
The ministerial memorandum Ds 2019:12, Amendments to new EU regulation regarding shareholder rights, was published on 28 June 2019 and contains legislative proposals which transposes the revised shareholder rights directive from 2007. The revised shareholder rights directive aims at encouraging long-term shareholder engagement and to enhance transparency between companies listed on regulated markets and their shareholders.
For those of our clients that are limited companies covered by these rules, we will during Q4 2019 start to improve shareholder transparency in line with the new rules. It will be possible to order a nominee list of owners as of retrieval dates including Mondays through Thursdays every week*. A nominee list of owners is a register of shareholders who have opted to register their shares via a nominee. This enhancement is also applicable for clients not having their shares traded on a regulated market. The change is planned to be launched in December this year.
The possibility to order separate address details regarding shareholders who have registered their shares via a nominee will be removed. However, address details to holders of direct registered financial instruments will still be possible to order as today.
(*only Swedish banking days and conditioned by the order being placed a certain time in advance)
