CSD Working Group, an association of Central Securities Depositories that is working on developing products using Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLTs), has released product requirements for general meeting proxy voting on DLT.

The release stated that the product requirements were let out during the International Securities Services Association (ISSA) Operational Committee meeting in London on April 24, 2017. The document was titled “General Meeting Proxy Voting on Distributed Ledger: Product Requirements”.

The document is comprised of requirements to all technical aspects of the product including functional requirements for the process, non-functional requirements, rust requirements and baseline data entities.

“With this effort, we aim to provide clarity to the infrastructure operators and market participants in how to implement DLT-based solutions in their local markets and to create value associated with the technology. Proxy Voting has served as an excellent business case where the advantages are both visible and easy to achieve without causing a major disruption on the market. For NSD in particular, it is one of the many steps that we take to make Russian post-trade infrastructure more open and reliable for both the local market and internationally,” Alexander Chekanov, Enterprise Architect at NSD, the leader of the working group, said.

The document aims to offer a complete description of the product for proxy voting that can be utilized by businesses in markets across the globe. The working group prioritizes to capture the business value of using DLT or blockchain in the field of proxy voting without completely reworking established business practices, the release further stated.

Produced by the working group, the document also involved collaboration between NSD, Strate (South African CSD), SIX Securities Services (European ICSD based in Switzerland), Nasdaq (CSD in Nordic and Baltic region) and DCV (CSD of Chile).

“Strate has always maintained that collaboration with key market players and experts leads to the successful implementation of industry-wide projects that add significant value to the markets. Distributed ledger technology has opened the doors to a new world of how people can transact and we’re excited to be an integral part of this journey, where we’re changing history. Together with other working group members, we have embraced this technology to improve the financial markets and are excited at the progress being made on proxy voting using distributed ledger technology,” Monica Singer, CEO of Strate, stated.

The CSD Working Group is continuing to work on the business case of proxy voting on the DLT. The group said that it will focus on future operations that includes business value distillation for infrastructure operators and market participants, extensions for more markets worldwide, among others.