TASE Establishes A Nominee Company Digital registration services are to be offered to public companies, for the first time in Israel

Press Release
18/10/2017
 

The tariffs that the nominee company will charge public companies will be 30% lower than those currently being charged by the nominee companies owned by the banks

The nominee company will offer its full range of operations
from january 2018

 
TASE’s board of directors has approved the establishment of a nominee company that is to operate as a TASE subsidiary. The establishment of the nominee company is part of the strategic plan published by TASE management last April.
The TASE nominee company will be set up as a private company, wholly owned by TASE. As prescribed in the Securities Law, the sole business of the new nominee company will be to hold securities and it will provide services to companies making offerings on TASE.
A nominee company is engaged in two main spheres of operation:
1.    Ensuring the proper and complete registration of the number of securities registered in its name (and held by the public).
2.    Serving as a conduit for the transfer of payments arising from corporate actions (e.g., dividends, interest) between the issuing companies and the end-holders of the securities.
At present, three nominee companies operate in Israel and these are wholly owned subsidiaries of Bank Hapoalim, Mizrahi Bank and Discount Bank.
Under one roof, TASE will provide public companies with a variety of services that will include: listing for trade, registering with the nominee company and depositing with the clearing house. In addition, the TASE nominee company will provide – in an Israeli first – digital registration services that will not require the issuance of a physical certificate. This is intended to reduce the risks in the registration process and to cut the public companies’ operating expenses.
Once the nominee company has been established and the transition to full digitalization completed (including ending the use of physical share certificates), TASE will be in line with the accepted global practice of providing registration services through companies that form part of a clearing house or a stock exchange group.
The Fees that the nominee company will charge public companies will be 30% lower than those currently being charged by the nominee companies owned by the banks. Such tariffs will comprise a fixed payment, ranging from NIS 10,000 to NIS 35,000 – in accordance with the size of the company and its characteristics, and a variable payment – in accordance with the number of series of securities being issued by the company.
The nominee company will offer its full range of operations from January 2018. In the coming weeks TASE will publish information for public companies as to how they can join the service.
Ittai Ben-Zeev, TASE’s CEO, today stated: “As part of TASE’s strategic plan, we are striving to expand our package of services and offer additional and new products. By so doing, we hope to contribute to the competitiveness of the capital market and to provide our clients with more efficient and smarter solutions. In an Israeli first, TASE’s new registration service will offer full digitization of this sphere, in line with the accepted global standard, and at a significantly lower cost than that currently available in the market. As a result of this move, companies can benefit from a more efficient and more economical service”.