A 'share registry' is an organisation that manages the registry of shareholders on behalf of a given company. The registry has the following responsibilities:
- recording changes in share ownership
- issuing shareholding statements
- managing dividend payments, bonuses and rights issues
After you have bought ASX shares, you will need to visit the website of the share registry and make an account in order to instruct them on what you want to be done with dividends, as well as other corporate actions. Brokers, such as Selfwealth, do not manage this for you.
Examples of share registry companies in Australia include Link Market Services, Computershare, BoardRoom Limited and Automic.
How can I find out which share registry manages a holding?
You can find the share registry for a particular holding using the ASX company directory (you can visit the ASX company directory by clicking here).
Once you've opened the company directory, simply follow the steps below:
- Type the name or ticker code (e.g. Selfwealth or SWF) of the holding into the search bar at the top
- Click on the desired result to view company information
- Scroll to the bottom of the page to view the share registry details