Follow up on voting rights

We note some important developments in the proxy voting process of late. We have previously commented on the matter of voting rights for ETF and mutual fund holders, a hugely important political and economic issue (here and here).

Lo and behold: subsequent to the termination of management contracts & withdrawals of more than $1 billion of pension assets, BlackRock and other managers are beginning to respond. Imagine that. In the FT today: BlackRock opens door for retail investors to vote in proxy battles

“BlackRock’s one-year-old Voting Choice programme already allows institutional investors holding $1.8tn in assets to decide how they want their shares to be voted, and the owners of $452bn have done so. The UK pilot marks the first time that BlackRock will offer the same opportunity to smaller investors... other asset managers are also trying to find ways to let retail investors vote. Charles Schwab’s asset management arm last month announced a pilot project that will poll investors in one mutual fund and two ETFs to gather their general preferences on core issues. Vanguard said on Wednesday that several of its equity index funds plan next year to “pilot a number of proxy voting policy options for individual investors to choose from”.