Citi’s Proxy Voting Platform Proximity Secures $20.5M from Big Banks

Proximity, a digital investors communication platform developed by Institutional Clients Group, announced on Tuesday that it raised $20.5 million in a strategic investment round.
The platform is now planning to form its own entity via a global, industry-led consortium.

The new investors in the platform include big names like BNY Mellon, Citi, Clearstream, Computershare, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, J.P. Morgan, and State Street.
Two Citi executives will be at the apex in controlling the platform – Dean Little has been appointed as the CEO and Jonathan Smalley as the COO.
The platform is focusing on a real-time and fully transparent electronic proxy voting platform. It provides post-meeting vote confirmation and gives investors up to nine more days per meeting to research and vote.
Proxymity also offers a shareholder disclosure platform, which automates shareholder ID requests in industry compliant formats without the need for any manual intervention.
A much-needed platform for shareholders
“To date, Proxymity has supported over 3,000 shareholder meetings, and after successful pilots, we’ve fully launched the platform in the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, and Australia, as well as a pilot in Spain,” Little said.
“The establishment of this strong consortium is a vote of confidence in Proxymity’s future and overall vision and we look forward to growing the team and suite of products to deliver Proxymity to more institutions around the world.”
With the , the platform is aiming to scale its platform offerings, delivering its services to a wider client base and across a broad range of geographic markets.
“In order to truly improve the proxy voting process, it was always our intention to expand Proxymity so that it meets the needs of the industry,” Smalley added. “We are thrilled to welcome an exceptional group of partners who understand Proxymity’s opportunity to meaningfully improve investor communications. Taking the platform into consortium ownership means we will have unparalleled ability to scale and leverage each of our partner’s unique role in the industry.”