The Shareholders Communication Channel enables communication between companies and their shareholders, and between shareholders themselves.

Because all shares traded on the stock exchange in the Netherlands are bearer shares, companies do not know the names and addresses of shareholders. Banks, however, know the names and addresses, as the banks act as the depositary of the relevant shares for investors. Of course, banks only release the names and addresses if the shareholders involved provide permission.

The Communication Channel makes it possible to collect shareholder`s addresses. The system selected guarantees the shareholder`s privacy. An independent intermediary Broadridge is responsible for the distribution. The banks collect the addresses of shareholders who have given permission for this.

The transmission system works as follows: if one of the participating companies wishes to send information, it informs the intermediary. The intermediary requests the participating banks to collect addresses of shareholders in the company in question who have given their authorisation for that purpose. The files received from the banks are merged, the resulting file is subsequently sent to a mailing company which sends the information to the shareholders. The mailing company ensures that shareholder`s address data is treated with strict confidentiality.

Of course, a shareholder does reveal his/her identity to a company when voting by voting instruction form, but that does not differ from the current situation when attending the general meeting in person.