Using digital technologies to strengthen shareholder participation
The right for shareholders to vote and participate in corporate decisions is one of
the fundamental building blocks of a well-functioning corporate governance framework.
Digital technologies offer important opportunities to strengthen corporate governance
by facilitating greater shareholder participation. This Going Digital Toolkit note
takes stock of recent developments and lessons learned from efforts to allow shareholders
to participate in corporate decision making via virtual meetings, including in the
context of the Covid-19 pandemic. The note also highlights the use of distributed
ledger technology (DLT) and its potential to address the main challenges raised by
the current corporate voting processes, in particular by facilitating the identification
of shareholders by issuers and end-to-end confirmation of their votes. Despite these
benefits, however, challenges remain that might discourage or slow down the pace of
DLT adoption.
Published on May 31, 2021
In series:OECD Going Digital Toolkit Notesview more titles