Broadridge Financial Solutions (NYSE:BR) Chief Executive Officer Tim Gokey outlined the company’s positioning across capital markets, wealth management, asset management, and corporate issuer services during a discussion at a UBS conference in Key Biscayne, Florida. Gokey emphasized Broadridge’s role as a technology and market infrastructure provider and pointed to several multi-year trends—digitization, shareholder engagement, faster trading, tokenization, and artificial intelligence—as key drivers of growth and investment.
Broadridge’s scale and core operating model
Gokey said Broadridge has scaled significantly since he joined in 2010, growing from about 3,000 associates and a roughly $2.5 billion market capitalization at that time to about 15,000 associates and a market capitalization he cited at roughly $22 billion. He described the company as generating $4.5 billion in recurring fee revenue and operating at the center of industry activity, citing metrics including processing $15 trillion of trades daily and $400 billion a day in tokenized assets. On the governance side, he said Broadridge processes 1.5 billion shareholder positions across 150 million accounts and serves 28 of the 29 globally significant financial institutions.
- Organic growth of 5% to 7%, plus 1 to 2 points from M&A for 7% to 9% recurring revenue growth
- Earnings growth guidance of 8% to 12% (with 10% described as a “mid-case”)
- Ongoing capital returns through approximately 1 point of share buybacks and a dividend around 2%
Regulatory communications: position growth outlook and visibility
In regulatory communications, Gokey said “position growth” remains the main economic driver and reiterated Broadridge’s expectation for mid- to high-single-digit position growth, consistent with what he described as decades of history. He attributed that durability to ongoing innovation in financial services, pointing to ETFs, managed accounts, free trading, direct indexing, and the potential future impact of tokenization.
Addressing near-term market volatility, Gokey said Broadridge tends to be a lagging indicator and that any impact typically comes “way after the fact, if there’s an impact.” He added that Broadridge has visibility into upcoming communications because it pulls positions well in advance, and said current observations suggest retail investors have been “buying in on the dips.”
Governance and shareholder engagement initiatives
Gokey discussed what he and the company have referred to as a “quiet revolution” in investor communications and governance, describing initiatives that he said could collectively add meaningful growth over time within the governance business. He highlighted three areas:
- Pass-through voting for asset managers seeking to distribute voting power to underlying shareholders. Gokey said Broadridge has expanded from about 100 funds to 400 funds and is targeting 600 funds “this year,” representing $4 trillion under management. He described the economics as not yet “huge,” but strategic for positioning.
- Custom policy engines aimed at asset managers seeking alternatives to relying exclusively on proxy advisors ISS and Glass Lewis. Gokey said Broadridge is using AI and clean data to provide a policy engine enabling clients to execute their own voting policies, adding that Broadridge is working with three Tier One clients this year and expects more next year.
- Standing voting instructions for public companies, which Broadridge is piloting with ExxonMobil. Gokey said the initiative will be beta-tested with about six companies this year, allowing investors to set defaults; he noted that retail investors often prefer to vote with management and sell if dissatisfied.
On regulatory scrutiny of proxy advisory services, Gokey said he does not see momentum at the SEC to review “underlying voting technology” or pricing around proxy. He said the agenda he is hearing from SEC Chair Paul Atkins includes tokenization/digital assets and efforts aimed at public company and IPO-related reforms, but he argued those are not tied to Broadridge’s economics, which he said are not dependent on the number of shareholder proposals.
Capital markets, wealth, and sales activity
On the capital markets side, Gokey highlighted Broadridge’s announced acquisition of CQG, which he said provides execution management capabilities, particularly in futures and options—an area where Broadridge does not “really play” today. He described the purchase price as about $170 million and said that once closed (expected later in the year), CQG could add roughly 5 points of growth to the capital markets business.
He also discussed a strategy focused on platform simplification, describing client environments with “30 different” front-office trading platforms and fragmented back-office infrastructure built by asset class and region. Broadridge’s long-term aim, he said, is to consolidate those onto global multi-asset platforms.
In wealth, Gokey said Broadridge is focused on improving advisor productivity, enhancing end-investor experience, and digitizing operations through a “componentized” platform that clients can adopt in parts. He said 48 components are live at clients and another “40-some” are in implementation, adding that the business saw multiple platform sales last year and recently won industry awards.
On sales, Gokey explained that Broadridge views sales as a bookings-like measure that feeds a backlog “bucket,” with near-term revenue more dependent on implementation pace. He said year-end backlog was $430 million. While acknowledging sales were behind last year’s pace—about $89 million in the first half—he cited two indicators he said support confidence in full-year expectations: new originations up 20% in the first half and a healthier “pipeline multiplier” for deals expected to close within the fiscal year. He added that demand is showing up in areas where Broadridge is investing, including digital communications, tokenization, shareholder engagement, and its platforms.
Tokenization and AI: opportunity framing and use cases
Gokey repeatedly characterized tokenization as an opportunity rather than a threat. On the governance side, he said tokenized securities are still expected to be treated as securities, and he expects intermediaries such as wealth managers and digital exchanges to remain central to distribution and asset servicing obligations. He also said intermediaries are unlikely to provide issuers with direct access to end-investor identities, pointing to privacy and business model considerations.
On capital markets tokenization, he highlighted Broadridge’s Digital Ledger Repo (DLR) product, noting it began with intra-institution repo use cases and has grown from about $100 billion a day to $400 billion a day. He said the product currently runs on a private version of the Canton network and is expected to move to the public version later this calendar year, alongside work Canton is doing with DTCC. He also discussed plans to move repo toward real-time, atomic settlement, which he said could change how repo is used and potentially increase volumes. He added that Broadridge helped Société Générale issue what he described as its first natively digital corporate bond and said the company is in discussions about tokenizing deposits.
On AI, Gokey said Broadridge’s infrastructure-heavy role differentiates it from workflow-focused SaaS businesses. He cited AI-driven product opportunities including making its asset management data and analytics offering predictive rather than descriptive, saying the company has sold “almost 20 clients” in the 18 months since introducing the capability. He also pointed to AI-enabled proxy voting policy engines and increased engagement from embedding document previews in communications, which he said has driven investor engagement up “10x.”
Internally and operationally, he cited productivity gains in a back-office operations service business (about 1,000 people and roughly $100 million in revenue), saying productivity improved 20% over the past year with a roadmap for another 20%. He suggested mid-sized firms may look to “mutualize” AI investment through providers like Broadridge.
Finally, on margins and capital allocation, Gokey said the company’s reported operating margin of about 20% is affected by pass-through revenue such as distribution, and that excluding distribution the margin is “about 30%.” He described Broadridge’s approach as focused on reinvestment and client satisfaction, citing net promoter scores “over 60” on core solutions, while still expanding margins by roughly 50 basis points per year historically. He reiterated a “balanced” capital allocation strategy—investment-grade balance sheet, internal investment, dividend, tuck-in M&A, and share repurchases—and said the company has strong cash flow capacity. Gokey said Broadridge reviews around 100 M&A opportunities annually and cited unlevered IRRs of 18% to 20% across transactions tracked over 15 years, describing the CQG deal as a proprietary transaction.
About Broadridge Financial Solutions (NYSE:BR)
Broadridge Financial Solutions is a global fintech company that provides technology-driven solutions and outsourcing services to the financial services industry. The firm’s core offerings center on investor communications, securities processing and post-trade services, and technology platforms that support capital markets and wealth management operations. Broadridge positions itself as a provider of mission-critical infrastructure that helps financial institutions manage regulatory requirements, investor engagement and operational complexity.
Products and services include proxy and shareholder communications, investor disclosure and digital communications, proxy voting and tabulation, clearing and settlement support, trade processing and reconciliation, and a range of software-as-a-service platforms for wealth and asset managers.
