Corporate Actions 2009 Conference Reveals Need for Issuer Involvement

WASHINGTON, June 1 /PRNewswire/ -- XBRL US announced that one of the key
findings at its May 28, 2009 conference on corporate actions was the need for
public companies to understand the current process and to follow
industry-accepted standards in how corporate actions data is created and
distributed. The event was held in New York City and attended by over 100
individuals representing securities processors, investor relations officers,
software companies and others. The conference was held jointly with
Securities Operation Forum and in association with The Depository Trust &
Clearing Corporation (DTCC) and SWIFT.

Thousands of corporate actions such as dividends, bond redemptions, rights
offerings and mergers are announced each year by publicly traded companies in
the U.S. alone. The financial community, including clearing houses,
custodians, transfer agents, stock markets and investors, all follow an
accepted ISO standard for corporate actions data but the public companies that
issue these announcement do not. The processing of these announcements
therefore is mostly handled manually, which results in errors and
time-consuming inefficiencies, creating the potential for heavy losses and
significant negative impact on investors.

"Issuers are simply not aware of the corporate actions process and therefore
not inclined to change the way they distribute event announcements in the
current environment," said Jeff Morgan, President and CEO, NIRI. "They need
education on what happens to their own announcements once they're issued and
how that impacts their most critical stakeholder, the investor. There also
needs to be an examination of costs and liabilities throughout the corporate
action process to ensure proposed changes to any system offers incentives to
all for adopting a new processing standard."

Other key findings from the conference included:
-- The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), SWIFT and XBRL
US announced that they will join forces to improve issuer investor
communications through technology standards. Click here to read the
statement of direction.
http://www.dtcc.com/products/gca/improving_communications.php
-- Opening session outlined the corporate actions process and highlighted
the critical role of the issuer in improving that process. Click here
to listen to audio webcast
http://xbrl.us/Events/Pages/corpact2009.aspx
-- An initial digital dictionary describing a merger corporate actions
was
unveiled. Read more about the taxonomy and the corporate actions
process in the conference handout
http://xbrl.us/pages/whitepaper_corpactions.aspx

-- Sessions covered topics including standards around the world and using
standards to enable straight-through-processing. Click here to see
presentations http://xbrl.us/Events/Pages/corpact2009.aspx

"This conference is the starting point in improving the way issuers,
securities processors and investors consume corporate announcement information
-- enabling faster, better data for reduced cost and greater accuracy," said
David Hands, Director, Product Development, DTCC and Chair, XBRL US Corporate
Actions Conference Advisory Committee. "We encourage individuals involved in
this process to learn more and get involved in how we expect public company
announcements will be handled in the future."

For more information or to get involved in the process, contact Michelle
Savage at 917/747/1714, michelle.savage@xbrl.us or Lynne Hasluck at
917/572/8264, lynne.hasluck@xbrl.us.

About XBRL US
XBRL US is the non-profit consortium for XML business reporting standards in
the United States and is a jurisdiction of XBRL International. It represents
the business information supply chain, including accounting firms, software
companies, financial databases, financial printers and government agencies.
Its mission is to support the implementation of XML business reporting
standards through the development of taxonomies relevant for use by US public
and private sectors, working with a goal of interoperability between sectors,
and by promoting adoption of these taxonomies through the collaboration of all
business reporting supply chain participants. XBRL US has developed
taxonomies to support U.S. GAAP and common reporting practices under a
contract with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The XBRL US GAAP
Taxonomies are available for review at
http://xbrl.us/taxonomies/Pages/default.aspx

http://www.xbrl.us

SOURCE XBRL US

Michelle Savage, +1-917-747-1714, michelle.savage@xbrl.us, or Lynne Hasluck,
+1-917-572-8264, lynne.hasluck@xbrl.us, both of XBRL US