Nasdaq: Nasdaq to Deliver Blockchain e-Voting Solution to Strate

South Africa's central securities depository (CSD) will leverage the solution
to improve voting efficiencies and increase shareholder participation in South
Africa 

STOCKHOLM, Sweden and JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, 2017-11-22 10:00 CET (GLOBE
NEWSWIRE) --
Nasdaq (Nasdaq:NDAQ) and Strate (Pty) Ltd, the South African CSD, announced
today an agreement for Nasdaq to deliver a new blockchain solution that would
bring electronic voting to the South African capital markets. The solution will
allow Strate, in conjunction with key stakeholders in the market, to provide
general meeting services and give shareholders an easy, user-friendly and
secure tool for voting remotely. The solution is based on the successful proof
of concept (PoC) developed for Nasdaq's Estonia market. In addition, Strate
will contribute to the ongoing market development of e-Voting technology. 

"We are very excited about our initiative with Nasdaq and what it means for the
South African financial markets," said Tanya Knowles, Managing Executive of
Fractal Solutions, a division of Strate (Pty) Ltd. "One needs to understand
that the environment at the moment is very administratively intensive, which
means there are many inefficiencies and risks associated with it. This is not
ideal in today's electronic age, as technology like blockchain can serve as a
solution. The solution aims to service our clients' needs across the market
from transfer secretaries to issuers, custodians, asset managers and those
holding shares in listed companies. Given that it is an end-to-end solution -
from the time a meeting is announced and all the way through the voting process
to the publishing of results - it means that all stakeholders will truly
benefit within the process." 

"A major indicator of progress in the capital markets is when technology not
only bolsters performance, but also improves efficiency and transparency," said
Lars Ottersgård, Executive Vice President and Head of Market Technology,
Nasdaq. "By leveraging blockchain, we are able to reduce friction in the voting
and proxy assignment process and also ensure that all information is
transparent to stakeholders when required and with the proper security,
governance and risk procedures in place. We are proud to welcome Strate and the
South African capital markets to the Nasdaq family and to support their efforts
in evolving their governance processes through new technological innovation." 

Benefits to Shareholders, Issuers and Proxies:

  -- Remote participation and proxy assignment;
     -- Submitting votes before and/or voting during the general meeting;
  -- Secure (multifactor) identification of shareholders and their
     representatives;
  -- Information about meetings, agenda items and management proposals is easily
     reachable;
  -- Full track record of assigned proxies (i.e. chain of proxies) and casted
     votes;
  -- Online / real-time access to voting results;
  -- Data is saved in an immutable ledger;
  -- Transparency and auditability of voting results for listed companies; and
  -- The end-to-end management of general meetings from announcement to results.

Benefits to CSDs, Exchanges and Market Infrastructures:

  -- Reduced complexity through end-to-end general meeting administration in a
     single solution - from notification and material distribution to voting
     management and reporting at the general meeting;
  -- Enhanced insight through real-time data access to securities holders,
     holdings and votes and ability to view full voting history on a single
     account;
  -- Safety, security and speed benefits of leveraging blockchain technology
     with a fully auditable view of actions recorded in the immutable ledger;
     and
  -- A standard Application Programme Interface.

About Strate
As a South African Central Securities Depository, Strate is licensed to be an
independent provider of post-trade products and services for the financial
markets. Its pioneering and innovative solutions to deliver reliable exchange
of value settlement systems are built on an 18-year foundation of trust. Being
internationally recognised as a Financial Market Infrastructure, Strate
provides sound risk management and a world-class service, priding itself on its
high levels of operational excellence to support and promote the safety and
efficiency of the financial markets. 

Strate provides electronic settlement of equities, bonds and money market
securities and provides collateral management services. It offers an asset
servicing product range to augment the services it offers to issuers in terms
of the Companies Act No. 71 of 2008 and the Financial Markets Act No. 19 of
2012. 

It also identifying new opportunities by exploring disruptive technologies.
www.strate.co.za

About Nasdaq
Nasdaq (Nasdaq:NDAQ) is a leading global provider of trading, clearing,
exchange technology, listing, information and public company services. Through
its diverse portfolio of solutions, Nasdaq enables customers to plan, optimize
and execute their business vision with confidence, using proven technologies
that provide transparency and insight for navigating today's global capital
markets. As the creator of the world's first electronic stock market, its
technology powers more than 90 marketplaces in 50 countries, and 1 in 10 of the
world's securities transactions. Nasdaq is home to approximately 3,900 total
listings with a market value of approximately $12 trillion. To learn more,
visit: http://business.nasdaq.com 

Nasdaq's market infrastructure technologies, including trading, real-time risk,
index, clearing, CSD and market surveillance systems are operated in more than
100 marketplaces, regulators, clearinghouses and central securities
depositories across the Americas, Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa, the Middle
East and the Caribbean. 

For Media Inquiries

Nasdaq
Ryan Wells
[e-mail]
Direct: [phone]
Mobile:  [phone]

Strate

Leigh Bevis          Nicole De Matos       Tanya Knowles                        
[phone]   [phone]    Managing Executive: Fractal Solutions
[e-mail]  [e-mail]  [phone]                   
                                           [e-mail]                  

 NDAQG