Broadridge Appoints Mike Cowley as General Manager of Global Proxy to Drive AI and Automation

Broadridge has appointed Mike Cowley as General Manager of Global Proxy to spearhead the division’s strategy and operational growth. For fintech professionals, this move signals a deepening commitment to AI-driven automation within investor communications, as the firm seeks to streamline the custody value chain and institutional governance for its global client base.

What was announced

Mike Cowley takes the helm of Broadridge’s Global Proxy business effective immediately, following a six-month tenure as interim General Manager. Since joining the firm two years ago, Cowley has been instrumental in implementing AI initiatives and streamlining operations. In this expanded capacity, he joins the Investor Communications Solutions (ICS) leadership team, where he will oversee the performance of the Global Proxy business with a specific mandate to improve client and associate satisfaction.

The role involves executing Broadridge’s strategic agenda across international markets and leveraging new Institutional Governance capabilities. These tools are designed to provide incremental value to clients operating throughout the custody and custody value chain. Cowley’s focus will remain on advancing the firm’s existing priorities in automation and AI to drive execution and service quality.

Based in New York and London, the appointment reflects a broader enterprise effort to strengthen the Global Proxy segment. Cowley will report to Swatika Rajaram, who serves as the president of Bank & Broker-Dealer Solutions at Broadridge. The transition comes after Cowley’s successful period managing the division’s day-to-day operations and strategic priorities on an interim basis.

The companies involved

Broadridge Financial Solutions, listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker BR, is a global fintech leader providing critical infrastructure for the financial services industry. The company operates at the intersection of banking, capital markets, and investor communications, handling trillions of dollars in daily trade processing and proxy voting.

The firm’s Investor Communications Solutions (ICS) segment, where the Global Proxy business sits, is a cornerstone of its market presence, facilitating the complex exchange of information between corporate issuers and shareholders. Prior to his promotion to General Manager, Mike Cowley served as Vice President - Head of Service Delivery for BBD International at Broadridge. The company’s footprint spans major financial hubs including New York and London, positioning it as a primary utility for the global custody chain. By integrating AI and automation into these legacy processes, Broadridge maintains its position as a dominant force in the post-trade and regulatory communications space, serving a vast network of banks, broker-dealers, and institutional investors.

What FF News has reported before

FF News has closely tracked Broadridge’s recent expansion into multi-asset trading and blockchain-based infrastructure. In October 2026, the firm made headlines by integrating Kalshi prediction markets into its CQG platform, a move designed to broaden the scope of its multi-asset offering. This followed a significant milestone for the company’s Distributed Ledger Repo (DLR) platform, which processed $7.5 trillion in September 2026 as tokenized repo volumes surged. These developments highlight a broader trend of Broadridge embedding advanced technology—from DLT to AI—into the core of its service delivery, reinforcing its role as a high-volume processor for the global financial markets.

What this means

The formalization of Cowley’s leadership suggests that the "interim" phase of Broadridge’s AI transition in proxy services is over. The industry is currently under immense pressure to reduce the friction and cost of institutional governance, and the move to bake AI into the custody value chain is a direct response to these demands. For competitors, the challenge lies in matching the scale at which Broadridge can deploy these technologies. The open question for the sector is whether AI-driven automation can truly resolve the long-standing complexities of cross-border proxy voting, or if it will simply speed up existing administrative bottlenecks.