2019 Benchmark Policy Consultation

To ensure its voting policies take into consideration the perspectives of the corporate governance community and the views of its institutional clients, ISS gathers broad input each year from institutional investors, issuers, and other market constituents through a variety of channels and mediums.

Following the release of its global policy survey results, ISS is making available for public comment 17 discrete voting policies for applicable for shareholder meetings occurring on or after Feb. 1, 2020. The policy comment period closes on Oct. 18 at 5pm ET.

Through the comment period, ISS is requesting feedback from all interested market constituents on 17 proposed new policies or potential policy changes, including:

• For policies covering companies based in Europe, proposed changes out for comment cover: director terms in Continental Europe; the use of discretion by remuneration committees in U.K and Continental Europe; remuneration committee responsiveness; and board gender diversity.
• For companies in the United States, proposed changes out for comment include those applying to sunset provisions for dual-class stock structures, share repurchase programs, and shareholder proposals on independent board chairs.
• Proposed changes out for comment applicable to companies in Asia include those concerning controlled companies in Japan, board accountability in South Korea, cash dividends in Taiwan, off-market repurchase pricing limits in Singapore, and board gender diversity in India.
• For coverage of companies in Emerging Markets, proposed new policies and changes out for comment cover cumulative voting and board independence in Middle East and North African markets, and director and officer indemnification and liability provisions in Brazil.