Integrated Electronic General Meeting (DIMA)
Central Securities Depository of Iran has launched the strategic service of electronic General Meetings for the listed companies, an unprecedented service in the history of the Iranian capital market. The CSDI made the service possible after it was mandated by the Ministry of Economy as well as the Securities and Exchange Organization of Iran, to realize the government's plan to enhance e-government and other electronic services through the innovative technologies during the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic.
Committed to the fulfillment of the mission of providing infrastructure to hold the general meetings of companies listed on the stock exchange electronically, the CSDI decided to facilitate the presence of shareholders in the virtual general meetings with additional features such as e-voting and Q&A platforms for issuers, shareholders, and supervisors.
Central Securities Depository of Iran has started holding the e-GM service initially for companies listed on the country's two exchanges i.e., the Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE) and Iran FaraBourse (IFB).
The CSDI's integrated portal of electronic general meetings, called DIMA, covers all the processes before, during, and after the general meetings.
In a recent development, Central Securities Depository of Iran held electronic general meetings of five provincial investment companies for the first time.
The events supervised by the Securities and Exchange Organization were attended by 33% of shareholders on Saturday 5 December 2020 for millions of shareholders from the provinces of North Khorasan, South Khorasan, Qom, Isfahan, and Kordestan.
Statistics showed above 97% of shareholders had participated in these meetings using mobile phones.
Meanwhile, on December 9, 2020, Ghavamin Bank hosted its AGM through the DIMA platform, where the bank's shareholders approved the meeting agenda.
DIMA enables shareholders to select their legal representative to attend the meeting, watch the general meeting live, participate in votes, ask their questions, present their points of view, and share ideas with other stakeholders in the forum.
In order to hold or join e-GMs, one is required to register in the CSDI's e-KYC system, better known as the Comprehensive Information Gathering System (CIGS).
Among other special features of the service provided by DIMA, are:
· Holding specialized panels for shareholders, issuers, supervisors, and the Board of Directors of the general meetings,
· Offering a CIGS-based multi-factor authentication system,
· possibility of attending several meetings simultaneously,
· Viewing the shareholders' presence in a real-time fashion,
· Proxy appointment to attend the general meetings,
· Uploading and viewing the agenda, presentation slides, and general meeting documents,
· Being able to exchange views among stakeholders in the forum and monitor the content,
· Watching the general meeting live,
· Having a Q&A session with company representatives before and during the meeting,
· Confidential and secure evoting
· Viewing the results online, and instantly,
· Being able to create and view general meeting notices,
DIMA also is a time- and cost-effective platform, which removes time and place limitations, increases shareholders participation, facilitates access to reports and documents, creates smart reports, makes communication between investors and representatives possible, facilitates the participation of international shareholders, provides the possibility of simultaneous attendance at several general meetings and offers high transparency and easy monitoring.
