General Meeting Service
Flexible General Meeting Service for ICSD and CSD clients
Clearstream offers services for general meetings that cover all our proxy voting markets and eligible instrument types – including Eurobonds and investment funds. It is designed to support domestic and cross-border share and bond holders in their governance rights and to help facilitate active ownership in meeting corporate governance guidelines, such as the EU Shareholders Rights Directive, in delivering general meeting notifications and processing voting instructions, either directly through Clearstream or via our dedicated partner Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS).
Clearstream is offering the following services for general meetings and assists clients and the ultimate beneficial owner to execute their voting rights.
Clearstream General Meeting Service
Currently, this service uses Swift messages in ISO 15022 combined with our online Xact Web Portal platform.
From 18 November 2024, the General Meeting Service will migrate from ISO 15022 to ISO 20022 Swift Message structure for all markets and asset classes.
CBF accounts for CBF issued securities
Messaging | Notification | Instruction |
Swift ISO 15022 | Notification contains only minimum meeting information. | Voting instructions are accepted by Swift MT565 and as unsolicited instructions (MT568, MT599). Decommissioned from 18 November 2024 Clients that do not support the ISO 20022 message format for meeting instructions will be able to use the new General Meeting module of Xact Web Portal (see the table below for more information on this module). |
CBF (for non-CBF issued securities), CBF-i, CBL, and LuxCSD accounts
Messaging | Notification | Instruction |
Swift ISO 15022 | Notification contains meeting agenda, incl. deadlines | Voting instructions are accepted by Swift MT565 and as unsolicited instructions (MT568, MT599) |
Xact Web Portal (Asset Servicing domain) | Notification contains meeting agenda, incl. deadlines | Voting instructions are accepted by Xact Web Portal (Asset Servicing domain), as free format / unsolicited instructions (MT599 upload) |
Swift ISO 20022 | Planned for 18 November 2024 MT564 (coexistence) via Swift network or MQ | Planned for 18 November 2024 |
Xact Web Portal (General Meeting module under Asset Servicing domain) | Planned for 18 November 2024 | Planned for 18 November 2024 |
Note: For “Market specificities and additional details” please refer to the attachment below.
General Meeting Service via ISS
Our integral partner ISS has a dedicated team of global procurement professionals and governance analysts with more than 35 years of experience in the process of acquiring, analysing, and processing meeting information for more than 100 global markets.
The General Meeting Service via ISS allows clients to choose between Swift ISO 15022 and ISO 20022 messaging, simultaneously offering an online platform for voting and reporting (ProxyExchange™).
CBF, CBF-i and CBL accounts
Messaging | Notification | Instruction |
Swift ISO 15022 | Notification contains meeting agenda incl. deadlines | Voting instructions are accepted via Swift MT565 |
Swift ISO 20022 | Notification contains meeting agenda incl. deadlines | Voting instructions are accepted via Swift seev.004 |
Note: Eurobond events currently remain in Swift ISO 15022 | ||
ISS ProxyExchange™ | Notification contains meeting agenda incl. deadlines | Voting instructions are accepted through ISS ProxyExchange™ and via Swift |
ISO 20022 rollout
Clearstream will - with the exception of the notification, for which a MT564 coexistence will continue to exist - replace ISO 15022 messages for general meetings and adopt the full suite of ISO 20022 compliant messages as of 18 November 2024. Please note that for instructions ISO 15022 messages are not supported. ISO 20022 messages contain more structured fields and, hence, better support the STP processing from issuers to end investors and vice versa. Clearstream is updating its service in order to comply with regulatory demands whilst considering market demands. Therefore, it will offer ISO 20022 messages to its clients. For clients which do not support the ISO 20022 message format for meeting instructions, Clearstream will provide a new General Meeting module within Xact Web Portal as an alternative.
This module will offer multiple dedicated query options, standardised fields and ways to create or manage instructions manually.
ISO 20022 is an open standard built for the specific needs in the general meetings area. These messages have a higher acceptance by non-Intermediaries and can eliminate many manual processes in individual markets.
The ISO 20022 messages for general meetings used by Clearstream will be documented on Swift MyStandards. Clients can refer to this site for an overview of the message structure, allowed fields or specific conditions.
Relevant documents
CBF accounts | CBL or CBF-i accounts | |
Announcements | D23014: ISO 20022 rollout for General Meetings – New implementation timeline – Update III | C23007: ISO 20022 rollout for General Meetings – New implementation timeline – Update III |
Presentation of key points and major changes | SCE Project Implementation of ISO 20022 for general meetings | |
Detailed Functional Specifications | Shareholder Communication Enhancement (SCE) Detailed Functional Specifications | |
Swift MyStandards | Swift MyStandards account is required. General Meeting Message structures are available in the “General Meeting Messages” community. Access requests are manually processed by Clearstream. | |
Client test | Shareholder Commmunication Enhancement (SCE) - General Meetings - Client Test Guide Shareholder Communication Enhancement (SCE) - Client Test Registration Form | |
Client Connectivity Forms | Client Connectivity Form - For Clearstream Banking AG (CBF) clients | Client Connectivity Form - For Clearstream Banking S.A. (CBL) clients |
Client test
Clearstream Banking will offer a guided client test and test cases related to the enhancements of the General Meeting Service. Detailed description of the test and test cases will be found in the SCE Client Testing Guide.
The participation in the guided client simulation is optional but highly recommended. Clients wishing to participate in the test will be asked to register. The completed Client Test Registration Form has to be submitted to SCE-project@clearstream.com latest by 26 July 2024.