Georgeson's summary of the most significant revisions to Invesco’s proxy voting policies for 2021 annual meetings reveals its greater receptivity to supporting ESG-related shareholder proposals generally, and these (and other) noteworthy changes:
- Diversity – Invesco will vote against nominating committee chairs: (i) where women constitute less than two board members or 25% of the board, whichever is lower, for two or more consecutive years, unless incremental improvements are underway; or (ii) if there are multiple concerns on diversity more broadly, which may include diversity of skills, director tenure, ethnicity or other factors “where appropriate and reasonably determinable."
- Board leadership – Invesco characterizes independent board leadership as a best practice. As such, it: (i) will vote against the incumbent nominating committee chair where the board chair is not independent unless a lead independent or senior director with clearly defined powers and responsibilities is appointed; (ii) may vote against CEOs serving in combined roles where significant concerns exist with respect to a company’s governance, capital allocation or compensation practices; and (iii) will generally support shareholder proposals seeking an independent board chair.
- Overboarding – Invesco will generally vote against directors who serve on more than four public company boards (reduced from six), and will apply a lower threshold for directors with significant commitments such as executives and chairmanships.
Additional updates highlighted in the memo encompass ESG risk, annual election of directors/classified boards, board and management accountability, audit committees/auditor ratifications, and capital management.
Access additional institutional investor proxy voting policies/guidelines on our Institutional Investors page >>Proxy Voting Guidelines.