The AIC Shareholder Engagement Award 2023

The right to vote is among the major benefits of investing in an investment company. Unlike investors in other collectives, shareholders get a say in how their company is run, and have the chance to make their voice heard at annual general meetings (AGMs).

More investment company shareholders than ever hold their shares through investment platforms. Platforms have been successful in expanding investment company ownership, providing a cost-effective and convenient way for individual investors to hold shares in investment companies, receive or reinvest dividends, and buy and sell their investments. However, not all investors realise how to vote or attend AGMs when they hold their shares through a platform.

To encourage and reward the investment platforms who do the best job of enabling shareholders to exercise their rights, the AIC launched a Shareholder Engagement Award in 2021.

The award is open to direct-to-consumer (D2C) investment platforms and will be judged by platform consultancy, the lang cat. The judging will focus on four areas:

  • Shareholder voting. How well does the platform facilitate shareholder voting?
     
  • AGM participation. How well does the platform facilitate participation in annual general meetings (AGMs) for shareholders of investment companies?
     
  • Corporate actions. How efficiently and effectively does the platform notify shareholders about corporate actions, and enable them to respond where necessary?
     
  • Documents and data. How well do platforms display investment company documents (such as annual reports) and data?
     

Platforms that enter the award will be scored in each of these areas based on their submissions. These scores will be loaded into a scoring matrix and this will be used to inform the final decision. A submission framework for platforms is available here.

All participating platforms will be given a full breakdown of how they scored, so that they can further enhance their offering and processes in future. The winner will be invited to use the Shareholder Engagement Award logo on its website and literature, to demonstrate its commitment to helping customers fully engage with their investment companies. Those platforms that come close will be given credit for areas in which they excelled. There is no charge to participate in this award.

The winner of the Shareholder Engagement Award 2023 is interactive investor.