2 Trust Banks Shareholders' Meeting Voting Rights Aggregation Total 1300 companies made mistakes September 24, 17:23
Shareholder rights have been compromised for many years.
Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank and Mizuho Trust & Banking Co., Ltd. announced that there was an error in the totaling work of more than 1,300 companies regarding the handling of documents for exercising voting rights at the general meeting of shareholders undertaken by companies.
The opinions of some shareholders were not reflected in the vote because the documents that arrived within the deadline were excluded from the total.
Of these, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank has received a document sent by mail in advance for shareholders to exercise their voting rights to the group company "Japan Shareholder Data Service," which is in charge of the general meeting of shareholders, in fact, the day before the general meeting. However, it was decided that it arrived on the day of the general meeting after the deadline had passed, and it was inappropriately processed to exclude it from the total.
In order for the "Japan Shareholder Data Service" to secure time for clerical work, such processing was continued for about 20 years without being notified to shareholders, etc., in coordination with Japan Post.
As a result, the 975 companies that were entrusted with the aggregation work did not accurately reflect the intentions of their shareholders in the voting.
However, there was no direct impact, such as the overturning of the resolution at the general meeting of shareholders.
This issue became apparent at a general meeting of shareholders of Toshiba in July, when an overseas investment fund claimed that the mailed document was not reflected in the vote.
Similarly, Mizuho Trust & Banking, which had outsourced operations to "Japan Shareholder Data Service," announced that 371 companies had confirmed similar improper treatment.
A total of more than 1,300 trust banks have made mistakes in the aggregation work, and the rights of shareholders are being impaired.