ICJ Advantage
Issuers participating in the ICJ platform have the unique advantage of being able to regularly monitor votes coming in from all over the world. The direct and timely flow of votes from overseas institutional investors via the ICJ platform allows companies to gauge the outcome of proposals and respond accordingly. By placing links to materials in English on ProxyEdge, issuers are able to put valuable information in the hands of institutional investors in a timely manner.

More importantly, the platform provides overseas institutional investors with the expanded windows necessary to make well informed decisions. ICJ’s platform provides institutional investors with proxy statements and meeting materials immediately upon release by participating issuers, and enable to vote up until one day prior to the meeting date.
Prior to the introduction of the ICJ platform in Japan, insitutions had to wait a few days to receive proxy statements, and their voting deadlines were set at eight business days prior to the meeting date. As a result, all the voting decisions must be completed within a few days.
Within a limited time frame, it becomes more difficult for investors to make the well informed voting decisions. ICJ’s platform expands the voting deadline to one day prior to the meeting date. ICJ’s platform gives institutional investors the ample time and materials to properly carry out their voting responsibilities as asset managers.
Even if the issuing company participates in ICJ, overseas institutional investors whose custody bank does not have a contract with Broadridge, cannot enjoy the benefits of ICJ's platform. Their voting deadlines are still set at 8 business days prior to the meeting date.

The graph on the left shows the actual change in number of days available for research and review based upon an issuer's decision to participate in the ICJ platform.
Clearly institutional investors want to enjoy the benefits of (1) access to proxy statements and meeting materials on the day of release; (2) a voting timeline which stretches from the release date right up to the day before the meeting; and (3) the ability to utilize standing instructions, automated reporting and a host of other advanced features available to ProxyEdge users to streamline their work flow.
In fulfilling the fiduciary reponsibilities, we encourage insitutional investors to request the issuers in their investing portfolio to join the ICJ platform.

