If you wish to alter an instruction you can contact us on (+356) 2557 4400 or send a replacement secure mail and we will do our best to accommodate your request. If your instruction has already been acted upon, and forwarded to the company’s registrar, this may not be possible.

In general the default option is decided by the company that issues the corporate action. This default option will be applied if we do not receive any instructions from your side before the deadline. It is up to every bank and intermediary party to keep the same default option or to change the default option. While MeDirect tends to keep the market default option, our team evluates every corporate action to ensure the that the default option is suitable and in the best interest of our clients. MeDirect will always inform you about the default option in the corporate actions notification.

Certain corporate action instructions are considered to be the same as selling your position in the market. An example would be an instruction to offer your shares in a public takeover bid. As this is considered as selling your position, we are obliged to block your position from market trading. If the corporate action is retracted in the market, your position will be unblocked. In case you change your mind and you would rather sell our position in the market, you will first have to retract your instructions by contacting our contact centre. After your instructions are retracted we can unblock your position and you will be able to sell it.

Under the Shareholders Directive we are legally obliged to inform you as soon as possible about any upcoming corporate actions, after we have received the information. Usually the company will announce a corporate action and an official notice will be send to the banks. Once we have received the notice we will double check all the information against a reputable data provider (such as Bloomberg or Thomson Reuters), to ensure we send the correct information to our clients. Once we have validated all the information, we will send you a notification in your personal inbox on the platform. We will only inform our clients once we have received an official notification. We do not send notifications based on press releases or market speculation.

In most cases, when a company undertakes a corporate action, it will issue official documentation with detailed explanations. For several different types of corporate actions, such as mergers and even cash dividends, the company will need approval from the general meeting. More information regarding the decision can be found in the meeting minutes which are often published and publicly available. These types of official documents can be found on the official company website, or on the website of the stock exchange where the company is listed.

As a shareholder you might be entitled to attend a (general) meeting organised by the company of which you are a shareholder. If you hold securities with voting rights you might also be allowed to vote. Just like any other corporate action, we will notify you about any upcoming company meetings. The notification will contain the meeting date and all other information you might need. To attend the meeting or to use your voting rights, you will have to reply to the notification, attaching all the necessary filled in forms, before the deadline.

If you are entitled to new shares or rights following a corporate action our operational teams will complete the necessary processes and the shares/rights will automatically be booked into your investment account. The earliest moment at which your shares/rights will be available in your portfolio is the first business day after pay date. However, due to market or operational constraints it might take a bit longer. Please note that rights cannot be traded online. If you would like to sell tradable rights, you will have to contact our contact centre to give the instruction to sell.

If you are entitled to cash compensation following a corporate action, our operational teams will take the necessary action. The cash will be automatically booked into the investment cash account that is linked to your Investment ID. The currency in which any cash amount is paid will consistently align with the currency used for dividend payment in the market. If you do not have an investment account in the currency of the dividend, our corporate actions team will open one for you and will book the cash into the correct account.

If you received an entitlement of bonus shares in relation to your investment in a Maltese equity and you wish to request a tax certificate, you can call us on (+356) 2557 4400 or send us a secure mail through your Online Banking.

If you wish to request a tax certificate in order to attach it to your Income Tax Return as proof of tax at source deducted from your dividend, you can call us on (+356) 2557 4400 or send us a secure mail through your Online Banking.