Record-date shareholders with settled shares eligible to vote should expect to receive shareholder materials with voting and/or meeting attendance instructions. However, being a record-date holder does not automatically determine vote eligibility.
Account Types That May Affect Voting Rights:
Margin Account: Margin account clients may lose the right to vote on a portion of or all their shares because of this account type. If you maintain a margin loan, IBKR has a right to place a lien on a portion of your securities and pledge or lend any of your securities subject to that lien to finance the margin loan. The margin account may have held settled shares that were not fully paid and segregated over the record-date of the meeting. You will not retain voting rights on any securities loaned for short sale purposes as of the voting record date, as that right is assigned to the purchaser taking delivery of your borrowed shares. Please refer to the section titled "IB's Right to Loan/Pledge Customer Assets" in the IBKR Customer Agreement.
SYEP (Stock Yield Enhancement Program): SYEP account clients may lose the right to vote on a portion of or all their shares when they are lent out over the record-date of a meeting. During any period in which the securities are loaned out, you will forfeit your right to vote those shares by proxy.
- Cash Account in SYEP: For cash accounts that are participants in the SYEP program, you must un-enroll in the program to ensure your shares are not lent out over the record-date. Please note that you will not be able to re-enroll back into the program for 90 days.
DRS or Transfer Out: Clients that initiated shares to be transferred out, and that action is over the record-date of a meeting, may lose the right to vote on all or a portion of their shares as a result.
Cash Account: Shares not lent out over the record-date in a cash account should expect to vote their full shares. However, in limited circumstances, it is possible shares in a cash account may end up not being vote-eligible.
Note
- You will continue to retain a right to dividends on loaned shares; however, it will come in the form of a Payment in Lieu from the borrower rather than the issuer of the shares.
- Holders may reach out to your financial advisor, introducing broker or Interactive Brokers Client Services if they require additional account-specific information.