Direct Registration System (DRS)

What is DRS?

The Direct Registration System is provided by The Depository Trust Company (DTC) to make stock transfers faster and less costly. You can mail your physical stock certificates to West Coast Stock Transfer to convert them into book-entry form.

Once your shares are on the books at WCST, you receive a DRS Statement (often called a DRS Advice). It acts as your receipt and shows your ownership of the shares.

Benefits of DRS

• No certificate to lose ›Book-entry shares can’t be lost, stolen or destroyed in the mail, and you avoid the cost of replacing a lost certificate.
• Lower costsNo shipping and handling of physical certificates, and corporate actions such as reverse splits and mergers cost less to process.
• Faster transfersShares move electronically to your broker. Gifting or inheriting shares doesn’t wait on paper certificates being mailed in.
• Your rights stay the sameYou keep your voting rights while your shares are in book entry, and you can ask for a certificate later if the company issues them.

Move your shares to your broker

• 1. Get a DRS Statement from WCSTIf you hold a certificate, send it to us to convert to book entry first. Your DRS Statement or Statement of Account shows the information your broker needs.
• 2. Ask your broker what it needsEvery brokerage firm is different. Ask: “What do I need to provide or complete for you to initiate a DRS transfer of my shares held at West Coast Stock Transfer, Inc., a transfer agent?”
• 3. Your broker sends the DRS request to WCSTWe deliver the shares to your brokerage account through DTC.

Authorizing the transfer

• DRS Request Form (LOA) ›Authorizes WCST to deliver your shares to your brokerage account when your broker sends a DRS request.
• Requests made by your brokerA broker acting for you must have your authority, given in a stock power.
• Medallion Signature Guarantee ›Not required from you when your broker requests the DRS transfer to your own account. Other transfers may need one.