Stock Transfer Form Template

How to eSign a document: direct deposit computershare form

hi there my name is penny and I'm computer shares virtual agent in today's video I'd like to talk to you about direct registration which is a way for registered holders to own shares electronically instead of getting a paper certificate we will look at a little bit of history discuss the benefits of direct registration and briefly explain how it works by the end of the video I think you'll see how holding shares through a direct registration can be a better alternative to holding onto physical certificates certificates to represent ownership in a company or venture have been around as long as people have been investing the first securities to be traded in North America go back to 1670 back then in order for a merchant agent in a trading post to trade their stock they had to wait until the supply ship arrived from England and handover share certificates to the captain who would then take them back to London for transfer at the company's head office new certificates would arrive the following year when the next supply ship returned to Canada from Europe fortunately things have progressed since then but the certificate remains in the 1960s as more people became investors and received pay per share certificates Wall Street and Bay Street were suddenly buried in a sea of paper transfering shares took several days and the backlog was so great Wall Street was forced to shut down one day a week this is when efforts to immobilize or prevent the circulation of paper certificates began central depositories were created to maintain paper certificates in one central location as a result many investors would deposit their paper certificate with their broker who would send the certificate to the Central Depository for safekeeping all transfers or changes in ownership would then be done electronically without the need to shuffle paper around thankfully the computer revolution began in the 1970s and helped this along by the 1990s it became evident that the safekeeping of physical certificates in one central location would not be enough and something else needed to be done in order to make the stock market more efficient the industry needed to go one step further and try to move towards the elimination of paper certificates completely this is what the industry refers to as dematerialization the book entry system was the result of these efforts which then opened the door for direct registration historically investors liked holding onto paper certificates because most certificates were designed to represent the company issuing them they were often very colorful and decorative they looked really good in a frame and were very popular as gifts for the birth of a new baby or for graduation for example today a large number of issuers allow investors to hold shares electronically or through a direct registration there are two main reasons for this in the u.s. direct registration is now in listing requirements for the major stock exchanges and direct registration can save the issuing company a significant amount of money those issuers who still offer paper certificates have opted to issue more generic or plain looking documents in an effort to save on printing costs so what's in it for me you may ask alright I'm getting there the most obvious benefit of direct registration for you is that you don't have to worry about how to keep your paper certificates safe depending on the value of the shares you own it can be costly to replace a certificate if it gets lost stolen or destroyed in a fire for example the safest place for a paper certificate would be a safe deposit box at your bank but these cost money if you own shares in a DRS book entry position computer share sends you a document or statement called a DRS advice it has no monetary value but it serves as your proof of ownership replacing a DRS advice is free when you call computer share and you can even get a copy of it yourself on our website if you're a member of investor center not sure but letting go of your certificates yet let's compare a typical certificate with a DRS advice and talk about the information they both contain both include your name the issuers name and your account number on the transfer agent system both provide information on the type of securities you hold as well as the number of shares if there are transfer restrictions on the stock you own we can even print those restrictions on a DRS advice just like we would on a share certificate from a transaction point of view there's very little difference between transferring certificated shares and DRS shares in fact our requirements are the same in both cases you need to provide us with a transfer form and a medallion signature guarantee with DRS shares however there is no certificate to locate before you can submit a transfer request so are you ready to move to a more convenient way of holding shares are you ready for DRS if you are visit our website on it you can confirm whether or not the issuer you're holding shares in allows for direct registration if the issuer offers DRS all you have to do is send us your share certificate and a letter of direction asking us to deposit the certificates into a book entry position for you thank you so much for visiting the computer share channel on youtube today if you have questions on direct registration or would like more information on replacing your paper certificates with electronic shares come and see me on investor center at wwlp.com