US Corporate Actions Standardization Position Paper

Executive Summary

Corporate Action announcements and event processing in the US financial markets have not changed significantly over the past decade despite increased technological advancement and additional industry regulation that have led to unnecessary costs and risks to organizations and investors.

This paper discusses the current state of Corporate Actions in the US, the present challenges in the current announcement process and objectives for what a modern Corporate Action environment could look like. Additionally, this paper provides a case study that highlights how a foreign securities exchange transformed its Corporate Action process and an example use case where potential risk to investors could be mitigated through the standardization of Corporate Action announcements and processing. Finally, this paper outlines the current regulatory structure and culminates in a call to action for industry organizations.