OREANDA-NEWS. On 7 October 2015, a fourth annual conference for issuers organized by the National Registrar Company (NRC) was held. National Settlement Depository (NSD), Russia’s central securities depository, supported the event.

Representatives of Russian issuers, corporate governance experts, lawyers and specialists in IR and shareholder relations attended the conference. This year, among the key topics of the conference were the corporate governance system in the period of reforms, the efficiency of corporate governance as a factor of investment attractiveness, opportunities for increasing shareholders’ activities, and an impact of changes in Russian securities law on issuers.

Eddie Astanin, Chairman of the Executive Board, NSD, chaired the first panel session “Corporate Governance System in the Era of Reforms.” Other participants included Tatiana Medvedeva (the Stock Market Development Center Foundation), representatives of issuers (Alexei Strubnev, Norilsk Nickel, and Andrei Gaidamaka, LUKOIL), and market infrastructure representatives (Alexander Kamensky, Moscow Exchange, Vadim Protasenko, NRK, and Alexei Fedotov, Citibank).

Representatives of all segments of business community involved in the corporate actions reform took part in the panel discussion. Thus the discussion was lively and fruitful. All participants had an opportunity to express their views on the reform and its prospects, point out the problems that needed more attention and share first results and experience in working in the new context.

The participants of the discussion recognized the need in strengthening communications with investors regarding the reform’s goals and stages. This is very important given the new law which will come into effect on 1 July 2016. According to issuers, one of the reform’s goals is a greater involvement of investors in the corporate action process. In general, all market participants supported the reform and intended to implement new solutions and technologies in practical work.

Another important topic raised by the participants of the panel discussion was new rules of disclosure of information on depository receipts owners. In particular, issuers referred to difficulties that emerged in their work due to the new information disclosure regulations. The participants stated that this issue required further elaboration.