Proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (ISS), kicked off its policy formulation process Wednesday, which will lead to the creation of its proxy voting policies for the year ahead.
ISS launched its 2014 proxy voting policy survey, which seeks input from institutional investors, issuers, directors, and others with a stake in governance practices, on corporate governance issues that are relevant to capital markets worldwide. In addition to this global survey, ISS will also conduct a variety of regionally based, topic-specific roundtables and conference calls to gather regional input and best practices. This input will also factor into the development of policy guidelines, it says.
The policy survey runs until mid-September, and the results will be disclosed at the end of that month. There will then be an open a 30-day comment period for all interested market participants, and its final policies will be issued in November.
ISS says that, in response to market feedback, the survey period has been lengthened to six weeks, and that it will make every effort to release its final policy updates one to two weeks earlier than in previous years.
“Although aligning executive pay and company performance will continue to be important to institutional investors, we are seeing renewed focus on the directors and boardroom decision-making,” said Dr. Martha Carter, ISS’ head of global research and policy. “To that point, we are seeking market input on issues such as board tenure, committee chair rotation and share authorizations.”