voting Archives

What a difference a broker vote makes

Just to illustrate the impact of the reformed broker voting rules in the USA, it’s interesting to look at Bank of America’s proxy votes results which were released to the SEC on Friday, 7th August. Last month, the SEC voted to exclude broker votes from all director elections starting 1st January 2010. Earlier this year Bank of […]

SEC Investor Advisory Committee gets to work

The SEC’s Investor Advisory Committee has kicked off its first meeting with an ambitious and far-reaching agenda.Sets Ambitious Agenda. At its inaugural meeting July 27, the committee, which includes institutional governance heavyweights Hye-Won Choi (TIAA-CREF), Mark Anson (Nuveen Investments), Abe Friedman (Barclays Global Investors), Dennis Johnson (Shamrock Activist Fund) and Damon Silvers (AFL-CIO), as well […]

Proxy Season 2009 – A Year to Remember?

Manifest cordially invites you to you our end of season colloquium in Paris on September 9th 2009. Please join us for an afternoon of informative analysis and lively debate in the graceful surroundings of the British Ambassador’s Residence in the heart of Paris – just a short train ride from central London and all leading […]

He who shouts loudest: who’s pulling the strings of cross-border voting reform?

Any choral singer will be familiar with the concept: a choir singing an acapella section will often naturally go ‘flat and lose pitch’, only to have to painfully re-adjust pitch when the orchestra joins in. Conversely, if the orchestra were to be playing in the wrong key (as a violinist and singer, a cruel but amusing […]

Financial Market Reform: US investors have their say

The 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, […]

Asian voting is a missed opportunity

Voting levels at Asian companies are cause for concern concludes the Asian Corporate Governance Association (ACGA). Talking to the Financial Times earlier this week, Jamie Allen, secretary general of ACGA has said that lack of investor involvement means that voting levels are running at about 30% some 20% shy of the levels of voting in the UK […]

Sir David Walker’s 39 Steps

Sir David Walker’s review of the governance of UK banks, commissioned by Prime Minister Gordon Brown, has published 39 recommendations aimed at improving the governance of banks and other big financial institutions (BOFIs). The aim of the report was to find ways of minimising risky behaviour and improving the way companies and shareholder communicate and interact. Many of the […]

SEC to consider broker discretionary voting

The SEC has three key governance reforms on the agenda for its July 1 “Sunshine Act Meeting” : Item 1: The Commission will consider whether to propose amendments to the proxy rules under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to set forth requirements for U.S. registrants that have received financial assistance under the Troubled Asset Relief Program […]

Europe’s in chains

Whilst it’s pretty certain that Tina Arena didn’t have the travails of institutional investors in mind when she sang her smash hit “I’m In Chains”, it captures pleas that may have more resonance in such circles than the song itself. Lines such as “A little click and the lock’s on me”, “can’t lift my hands” […]

Manifest publishes Total Remuneration Survey 2009

Manifest’s annual review of executive remuneration trendshas now been published and has received a positive response from a variety of market commentators including Robert Peston for BBC’s News at 10 and the BBC World Service’s European Business News. This year’s survey has been extended to included pensions data as well as detailed narrative on trends […]