A new shareholder registry and management system developed in Bermuda has been hailed as a prime example of the ongoing work to modernise the Island’s capital market.That is according to Greg Wojciechowski, president and CEO of the Bermuda Stock Exchange (BSX), who was speaking at the launch of Nova Ltd’s second version of its Quantum product at the Fairmont Hamilton Princess on Tuesday evening. In attendance at the event were issuers, law firms, fund administrators, brokers and regulatory authorities.The product’s new features include the ability to manage the offering of a dividend reinvestment programme and an integration with the Bermuda Central Securities Depository within the BSX.Nova also had the opportunity to unveil its short-term road map for the product including enhancements to meet satisfy future compliance and regulatory reporting requirements such as the FATCA (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act), the integration with the Bermuda Registrar of Companies to provide automated filings and the introduction of a web-based solution giving shareholders access to their portfolio of securities that they have invested in the market like the ability to provide online voting of proxies and detailed reports of their activity.The site will also provide visibility of other securities listed on the Exchange.“Stock exchanges are a vital component of the financial infrastructure of a country and are necessary for sustainable economic growth,” said Mr Wojciechowski.“They have themselves grown hand-in-hand with the economies in which they serve. Stock exchanges provide a mechanism for bringing together those seeking capital and those looking to earn a return on savings.“Capital investment is necessary for businesses to grow and provides an avenue for companies to raise capital outside of the banking system. The stock exchange in Bermuda has fulfilled this role to date but there is more that can be done to make the domestic capital market more effective for companies and investors alike.”Mr Wojciechowski said that the BSX had sought to implement the most sophisticated market infrastructure in Bermuda possible given its resource base and thus enable domestic service providers to support post trade market operations and shareholder services.“One such initiative is Nova’s Quantum system,” he said. “Quantum is a modern electronic shareholder registry system which provides corporate action and shareholder support services.“The system has been designed to keep the shareholders of a company closely involved with developments taking place within the company in which they own stock, thus ensuring transparency and involvement post trade.“Nova and the BSX have worked closely together over the last year to ensure that our systems ‘talk’ to one another providing ease of position reconciliation between a companies share register and a position being held within the BSD which is Bermuda’s national securities depository.“These developments underscore that Bermuda’s domestic capital market continues to mature and that the plumbing is in place to provide the foundation for the next wave of domestic or international business that will call Bermuda its home.”Quantum, which was initially launched in March 2010, is a shareholder registry solution designed to meet the requirements for issuers and fund administrators managing domestic securities in the Caribbean and Latin American market.The product has achieved great success in the Bermuda market, including being presented by Tech Week’s highest award, the International Innovation of the year award in 2010 and most recently being the nominated as the product for which Nova was awarded the prestigious Microsoft Country Partner of the Year Award for 2011.Quantum offers efficient administrative support for registrars with fully-audited transaction record keeping and shareholder details. It also provides easy management of corporate actions, enabling users to view the standing of an issuer at any point in time.