Better Service On Shares
The Age
Sunday May 12, 1996
The information age is changing share registries, writes Lucinda Schmidt.
AFTER months of putting it off, you've finally scrounged a spare couple of hours one evening to work out your finances.
The problem is, you need details of how many Woolworths shares you own - and you can't find the paperwork. The share registry could tell you in a flash, but it's closed until Monday morning.
The scenario is familiar to many of the six million-plus Australians who own shares in listed companies. Questions about their shareholdings, and requests to change administrative details such as addresses, must be dealt with during business hours. Often, changing the details takes weeks, with forms to be filled in and posted.
All this will change in the next couple of years. Australia's three biggest professional share registries, Coopers and Lybrand, Ernst & Young and KPMG - which collectively handle the share registry work of about 600 companies, with 5.5 million shareholders - are all working on electronic advances that will make many shareholders' lives a lot simpler.
In the not-too-distant future, you will be able to find out how many shares you own in a particular company at any time, using a touch-tone telephone. Other more complicated issues, such as changing your address details or directing your dividend payments to a new bank account, will also be dealt with electronically, perhaps using a personal computer or by fax.
Bill Sadler, Coopers' national securities registration partner, says share registries will gradually become more like banks in the way customers are able to access details of their accounts 24 hours a day.
``It will be a big change," he says. ``But shareholders' needs are changing and they need a lot more information. At the same time, they are expecting a better level of service.
" Coopers has dozens of telephonists answering hundreds of shareholder queries each day. Sadler says Coopers has more than two million customers who are shareholders in companies including the Commonwealth Bank, Woolworths and GIO, hence the need to make more use of technology.
Sadler says: ``We're entering a new phase of increased service expectations and things have got to change. We've all been focusing on getting the paperwork out of the way. Now, much of that has been handled and we need to focus on areas where we can add value for shareholders."
At Ernst & Young and KPMG, a similar approach is being adopted.
Hamish Gidley-Baird, managing director of Ernst & Young Registry Services, says share registries have improved their responsiveness and service but there are further improvements to be made. Ernst looks after about 1.6 million shareholders of 260 companies, including Qantas, Coles Myer and Pacific Dunlop. ``Back in the late 80s, people were taking three to four months to process transfers," he says. ``Now, we turn them around in five days. But in the future, things will be even faster when shareholders can change their details through electronic means."
Roger Randle, managing director of KPMG Registrars, predicts that electronic statements of shareholdings will be available within two years.
KPMG, which looks after 1.75 million shareholders in companies including Westpac and CRA, is also working on electronic means of changing shareholder details.
© 1996 The Age