OECD: Türkiye is a step ahead with its Electronic General Meeting System (e-GKS)

In the OECD Report on Shareholder Meetings, Türkiye is a Step Ahead of Other Jurisdictions with Electronic General Meeting System

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) conducts comparative country reviews as part of its mandate to monitor and supportthe implementation of the G20/OECD Principles of Corporate Governance (Principles), which are the globally accepted primary standard in the field of corporate governance.

As part of the work of the OECD's Corporate Governance Committee, the OECD conducted a peer review of regulatory policy frameworks and good practices for general shareholder meetings of listed companies in 2024. The study analyses the policies and practices of listed companies for general shareholder meetings for 50 major economies, shedding light on how various regulatory frameworks and corporate practices address the issues of shareholder participation and interaction, voting rights and transparency of general shareholders meetings.

As a result of the studies, the OECD has published a report entitled "Shareholder Meetings and Corporate Governance: Trends and Implications" on the OECD website on 7 April 2025. Within the scope of the study conducted in 2024, which formed the basis for the OECD report, the use of e-GKS in Türkiye was examined on-site, and Türkiye was identified as one of the exemplary countries included in the report. In the study, the Electronic General Meeting System (e-GKS) developed by the Merkezi Kayıt Kuruluşu (MKK) in Türkiye was identified as one of the most advanced national systems for hybrid general shareholder meetings.

The report states that the Electronic General Meeting System (e-GKS) in Türkiye successfully meets the needs of all market participants for the conduct of general meetings in a hybrid format, and emphasizes that Türkiye is one step ahead of other jurisdictions reviewed in providing a platform that gives shareholders a choice between participating remotely in a hybrid format or in-person attendance at the meeting. 

Other issues highlighted in the report were as follows:

1. With the e-GKS offered by MKK, hybrid meetings were launched for all publicly traded companies in 2012. With a unique approach, e-GKS supports companies, investors and investment institutions in all stages of general shareholder meetings.
2. The example of Türkiye was positively cited, emphasizing that it is important to develop specific legislative proposals or purpose-specific guidance specific to various issues related to electronic participation in general shareholder meetings, the process of asking questions, receiving responses and voting, and the disclosure thereof. 
3. It was noted that vote counting and vote confirmations are an important element of shareholder rights, but most countries do not have or propose processes for vote counting and end-to-end vote confirmations, whereas the platform used in general shareholder meetings in Türkiye (e-GKS) includes such a feature and enables easy confirmation of voting.
4. The Turkish capital market is characterised by high ownership concentration and a robust listing growth, Türkiye has an active and large capital market with a steady increase in the number of listed companies over the last few years and a small but growing institutional investor industry.
5. The corporate governance framework for the management of general shareholder meetings is coherent and transparent in our country. 
6. The institutional setting is clearly articulated by allocating regulatory, supervision and enforcement powers to different bodies.
7. of the use of e-GKS has helped increase domestic and foreign shareholders’ attendance at  shareholder meetings, supported the removal of share blocking as well as achieved significant cost savings for companies, investors and custodians.
8. It was emphasised that e-GKS removes all obstacles to cross-border voting, including blocking of shares and the obligation to issue a physical proxy from a notary public. 
9. It has been positively emphasized that e-GKS platform has an articulated security infrastructure to ensure meeting security including a system for encrypted and encoded audio and visual transmission. Furthermore, that access to the platform can only be made via electronic signature / mobile signature to prevent unauthorized access, and that MKK also periodically has security tests conducted by independent audit institutions.

Commenting on the issue, CEO and Board Member of MKK Dr. Ekrem ARIKAN said: “On behalf of our country, MKK is very pleased that the OECD has selected e-GKS as an example of good practice, as a provider of central depository and data services as well as corporate governance solutions in Türkiye”, and added: “On behalf of our country, MKK is very pleased that e-GKS, which we developed entirely with our own internal resources, has been identified by the OECD as one of the good practice examples in the world following the examination studies conducted in 50 developed economies. We would like to express our sincere gratitude to the Ministry of Trade and the Capital Markets Board for their legislative work and support regarding general shareholder meetings. 5,730 general shareholder meetings have been held on the e-GKS to date, and a total of 204,894 electronic participants took part in these meetings. More than 2/3 of the shareholders who attended the general shareholder meetings preferred e-GKS. At MKK, we continue to improve e-GKS. With our recent transformation efforts, we have strengthened e-GKS's technology infrastructure and improved the user experience. We have also made e-GKS ready for use by organizations such as sport clubs, unions and cooperatives in addition to companies.”

Dr. ARIKAN stated that e-GKS has been exported abroad since 2020 and said: 

“eASY.KSEI, the version of the Electronic General Meeting System (e-GKS) adapted for Indonesia, was used for the first time by the Indonesian Central Securities Depository (KSEI) in 2020, and MKK's financial technology export was realized. While our e-GKS product has been actively used in Indonesia since 2020, we continue our negotiations with foreign institutions to export it to other countries.”

To read the full OECD report: 
https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/shareholder-meetings-and-corporate-governance_2d36fa5c-en.html

For the statement made by the Capital Markets Board (CMB) on the subject:
Capital Markets Board of Türkiye

For access to the Electronic General Meeting System (e-GKS) and detailed information:
https://egk.mkk.com.tr/