Ireland: Dematerialization of Shares
The first day of 2025 was a big date for the Irish market. As of 1 January, all shareholdings of Irish securities in public limited companies whose shares are traded on a UK or EU market are now fully dematerialized. The key impact is that all existing share certificates for traded securities have been rendered ineffective and are no longer recognized as prima facie evidence of ownership or title. Whilst paper share certificates are no longer valid, the related holdings are unchanged and are held electronically instead.
Key changes and requirements
The Central Securities Depositories Regulation (CSDR) is EU legislation that came into effect on 17 September 2014. It required that all existing Irish securities whose shares are traded on a UK or EU market in certificated form had to be dematerialised by 1 January 2025.
Share certificates for relevant Irish public limited companies will no longer be issued or valid as evidence of title and entries on the register of members will be replaced by book-entry record – A process known as Dematerialisation – and all individual shareholders who currently hold their shares directly and have been issued with paper share certificates as evidence of the entry of their shareholding on the physical register of members are affected.
The key impact will be that share certificates will cease to have any legal effect for the purpose of evidence of ownership and these certificates will in practice be replaced with an electronic form of holding shares.
How can we help?
The Computershare Governance Services dedicated global team of governance professionals can advise on the dematerialization process that is necessary to maintain these digital shares and the associated annual fees. Additionally, Computershare’s leading entity management system GEMS provides its clients with a robust online tool to manage and track securities for their entities in a format that is easy to access and update.
Contact:
Please contact your dedicated Computershare Relationship Manager or send an email to globalentityservices@computershare.com for more information about how Computershare may assist you in responding to these new requirements.
This notice is provided by Computershare for general informational purposes only and is not intended and should not be construed as legal, regulatory, financial or tax advice. Computershare is not licensed or authorized to practice law in any jurisdictions and hence does not provide any legal advice and it does not hold itself out as doing so. Neither Computershare nor any of its affiliates or contributors accept any responsibility or liability for the quality, accuracy or completeness of any information contained in this notice. It is important that you seek independent professional advice relating to the subject matter of this notice before relying on it.