RiskMetrics Group releases draft proxy voting policies for comment
RiskMetrics Group announced yesterday that it has released for comment until November 11, 2009 its 2010 draft proxy voting policies. The comment period is part of RiskMetrics' annual policy development process and "offers institutional investors, corporate issuers, and industry constituents the opportunity to provide feedback on RiskMetrics' draft policies." Topics covered include director independence and elections, pay for performance and takeover defences. Specific to Canada, RiskMetrics published a policy respecting slate ballots, a process for elections that RiskMetrics described as "depriving shareholders of the opportunity to express approval or disapproval for individual directors." As described in our post of August 18, RiskMetrics criticized slate ballots in an open letter to TSX companies back in July.
The proposed policy would recommend a withhold vote for slate directors where RiskMetrics has identified: "(i) additional corporate governance practices that fall short of best practice for the Canadian market; or (ii) concerns about compensation practices and the alignment of pay with performance." According to RiskMetrics, the proposed policy "is expected to promote best practice in director elections in the Canadian market which alights with best practice in other markets."
