The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has issued new guidance on virtual meetings to allow more flexible engagement between investors company management. This includes setting out ASIC’s expectation that members have the same opportunities to participate at virtual meetings as they do in-person. Speaking at an event in Sydney, ASIC Commissioner Kate O’Rourke said that, in a time of technological change and disruption, AGMs remain a key accountability mechanism for corporate Australia. “We do not view the Corporations Act as always requiring a telephone line, so long as the virtual meeting format allows members to exercise any rights orally and in writing, and the virtual meeting technology meets the broader requirements of meetings,” she said. O’Rourke added that one of the lessons from the pandemic was that shareholder participation at AGMs could be increased by holding both hybrid and virtual meeting. In February, Australia’s government announced that it had “accepted or accepted in principle” all recommendations of an independent panel that was tasked with reviewing legislative amendments to provide for virtual company meetings and the electronic distribution, signing and execution of company documents.
