voting policy Archives

IIGCC publishes net zero voting guidance

The Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC) has published guidance to support investors in developing their own net zero policies and practices.

DWP launches pension scheme voting task force

DWP launches pension scheme voting task force Minister noted time was up to wait for industry to make a change Pensions Minister Guy Opperman has announced the establishment of the Taskforce on Pension Scheme Voting Implementation, with a focused remit to help trustees and in-house teams stay in control of their shareholder rights. The taskforce, […]

Engagement or voting? Asset manager advocates alternatives

Direct engagement with companies produces better results than shareholder resolutions at AGMs, an asset manager has argued. US investment house T Rowe Price, which runs approximately $1trn, stated in its annual ESG report that it preferred to engage one-to-one with companies to encourage positive changes rather than focus on shareholder campaigns at annual meetings. The […]

Navigating the pandemic-hit AGM season and beyond

The 2020 AGM season will be one of the most challenging in years. Social distancing requirements mean shareholder meetings must take place remotely, with less flexibility for investors to pose questions to boards. There have already been delays to meetings in some instances – our data shows a significant drop in the number of meetings […]

La langue de la diplomatie (the language of diplomacy)

Over the same weekend that the UN wrestled with the question of whether to intervene in the internal affairs of Libya, the French financial markets regulator, the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF), issued a stunning piece of surprise, summary intervention in the proxy advisory market. Having consulted with “the professionals concerned” according to their own […]

Voting and the laws of unintended consequences

It would be fair to say that the importance of shareholder voting has enjoyed an increasingly higher profile in recent years, not least in response to the financial crisis. Just within the UK investment context, initiatives such as the Myners Principles, the Stewardship Code, the 2006 Companies Act, the Hedge Funds Standards Board Code, UCITS […]

No voting policies? that will be $350,000 says SEC

The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged INTECH Investment Management LLC, a Florida based investment advisor with violating its proxy rules after it was found that it failed to describe its voting policies and procedures as well as failing to manage and disclose a major conflict of interest. After receiving complaints from some of the manager’s union-affiliated clients about its pro-management proxy […]