Corporate Actions

Benefits

• Hassle-free post-trade management
• Enhanced operational efficiency and easy monitoring through automated platform
• Structured and standardised corporate action message format

The CMU Corporate Action service provides a communication platform which facilitates the processing of custody operations in an automatic manner between paying agents and securities holders. The platform provides a comprehensive coverage of mandatory and voluntary corporate action events and options. Various corporate action-related reports are also available for participants for daily monitoring and straight-through processing (STP).

CMU Corporate Actions adopt ISO2022 standard message format.

• The paying agents of CMU Instruments announces information about corporate actions to CMU participants who hold the relevant CMU instruments;
• The holding participants receive the corporate action notifications and sends authenticated custody instructions to the respective agents; and
• Where applicable and necessary, the CMU system distributes the proceeds of custody operations to CMU participants on behalf of the respective paying agents. The custody distributions supported in the CMU system include securities and cash distributions which can be settled through the RTGS systems in Hong Kong

Mandatory (non-voluntary) and voluntary corporate actions

Non-voluntary events include mandatory corporate actions and do not generally require any action from holders. They are reported for information purposes only.

Voluntary corporate actions are generally options and offers, where holders can decide to participate, not to participate or for which a 'no action' instruction can be input.

• Options require action by the holders. They are described in the governing documentation of the security prospectus, and they are generally valid for a long period. Example is conversion of bonds into shares.
• Offers require action by the holders. They are announced from time to time by the management of the company or the issuing agent, and they are generally valid for a limited period only. Examples are subscription for new debt securities of a company, or taking up a purchase.

Related Information