Perhaps the two least surprising observations about last week’s local government elections in the UK were the weakness of the incumbent national government party vote, and the continued fall in turnout. If there’s one thing you can rely on, it’s that generally people don’t understand why local government is important to them and therefore don’t […]
Read MoreThe upcoming AGM of Deutsche Bank AG is looming large in many shareholders minds now. With the long running succession planning debate at the company leading some proxy advisors to publicly recommend opposition to ratification of the supervisory board acts, combined with countermotions tabled for director elections, there’s plenty for shareholders to consider. The ability to […]
Read MoreThe AMF, the French equivalent of the FSA, has finally published an English language version of its February 7th report on the conduct of General Meetings at French listed companies. The report deals with the four broad themes of dialogue between shareholders and issuers, shareholder voting at general meetings, the board of the general assembly and its […]
Read MoreFrench Company Law now has a further measure which French companies can use to block dissident shareholders from using their influence at general meetings of shareholders. On 8 December 2010, the French President signed into law an an amendment to the Commercial Code, one part of which inserts three additional sections relating to voting at […]
Read More“The investing community desires change”. Not something we weren’t aware of, surely? However, when it’s a summary of the almost unanimous response to the most comprehensive regulatory review of the US proxy system the SEC has undertaken in 30 years, this finding is highly significant. In short, the Securities Transfer Association analysis of the 199 […]
Read MoreMost investment managers are voting proxies without guidance from clients, according to a new survey released this week by the Canadian Shareholder Association for Research and Education. In its annual proxy survey, SHARE reports that 71% of investment managers say that they vote most of their pension fund clients’ proxies at their own discretion, without […]
Read MoreFour of the Swedish buffer funds (AP1, AP2, AP3 and AP4) this week announced the appointment of a provider of global voting services: “The First to Fourth AP Funds (The Funds) have carried out a procurement of a Global Voting Service. After extensive evaluation of different suppliers and their systems, we have decided to award Manifest […]
Read MoreThe Investors Working Group, a bi-partisan panel of experts created in February 2009 by the Council of Institutional Investors and the CFA Institute Centre for Financial Market Integrity, has released its recommendations for reform and modernisation of the US financial markets. According to the report, strengthening existing regulatory agencies, closing gaps in the regulatory structure, […]
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