What’s New for the 2019 Proxy Season?

By looking at the UK, which currently has the spotlight on corporate governance practices, we can be sure that company boards will be compelled to implement good governance practices.

During the 2018 proxy season, shareholders engaged actively in governance matters. The CGLytics FTSE 100 Proxy Review revealed shareholders to be particularly interested in director election, board effectiveness, CEO pay and Environmental Social Governance (ESG) practice.  So what’s in store for 2019?

By looking at the UK, which currently has the spotlight on corporate governance practices, we can be sure that company boards will be compelled to implement good governance practices. They should prepare for early engagement with investors, who have expanded their ESG capabilities with access to best-in-class analytics to aid engagement and voting.

CEO Pay, Board Refreshment and Gender Diversity will continue to dominate

We envisage the following themes will dominate 2019 across Europe:

Proactive shareholder engagement 

To obtain early shareholder buy-in during the proxy season. Investors will favour an ongoing positive dialogue in preference to a reaction to a negative vote.

Transparency will endure as a central theme 

Boards should be prepared to engage openly on their board composition, say-on-pay proposals and governance decisions.

Board refreshment, gender diversity and board composition 

These will be key governance matters as investors seek to favour board strategy and composition that ties to long-term company performance.

CEO Pay 

Pay will be scrutinised – compensation policies and practices must be fully transparent and reflect, and support, business strategy and promote long-term success.

CEO succession planning 

Chairs and nomination and governance committees will be required to plan for CEO succession to mitigate business continuity risk.

Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) 

ESG will continue to gain momentum as investors continue to become more information savvy and continue to evaluate companies’ progress on their environmental, social and governance practices.

Boards must be equally, if not better, informed as shareholders in order to engage adequately and constructively

Getting ready for the coming season

Boards need to be fully prepared for the upcoming proxy season. They must be equally, if not better, informed as shareholders in order to engage adequately and constructively, to be certain to avoid any reputational risks. Having access to the same intelligence as proxy advisors and investors is fundamental to proxy season preparedness and good governance decision-making.

CGLytics provides real-time governance risk analytics and solutions that provide actionable insight for companies, shareholders and proxy advisors. We empower boards of companies and investors with data analytics that enable good governance.

In preparation for the 2019 proxy season, CGLytics released its third annual FTSE 100 Proxy Season report. This series of articles summarise some of the key findings. Access the full insights and statistics by downloading the report.

Aniel Mahabier

CGLytics

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Be prepared: Learnings from the UK 2018 proxy season

The UK is at the forefront of shareholder concern of good corporate governance practices. In a climate of increasing proactive shareholder engagement, the CGLytics FTSE 100 2018 proxy season review evaluates underlying trends to provide unique insights for being prepared for the forthcoming season.

The UK is at the forefront of shareholder concern of good corporate governance practices. In a climate of increasing proactive shareholder engagement, the CGLytics FTSE 100 2018 proxy season review evaluates underlying trends to provide unique insights for being prepared for the forthcoming season.

During the 2018 proxy season, shareholders showed increasing interest in key governance matters, including director election, board effectiveness, CEO pay and Environmental Social Governance (ESG) practices. Transparency emerged as a consistent concern.

We saw unprecedented dissent from investors on director re-elections. The number of resolutions opposing individual director re-elections rose from 38 in 2017 to 80 in 2018. The reason for the increase was due to a general concern about directors becoming ‘overboarded’ and unable to fulfil their duties. Investors were also looking closely if boards possessed the right composition including skills, diversity, and gender to support long-term growth plans.

2018 Proxy Season Highlights

Say on Pay

The GCLytics report explained that CEO pay is a real concern among investors who repeatedly voted down remuneration reports and questioned short-term remuneration plans.

Pay and performance

During the year, shareholders strongly urged companies to bring pay in line with performance and voted strongly against remuneration-related resolutions if it was seen as misaligned.

33% of companies have a pay for performance misalignment

The FTSE 100 CEO compensation landscape is evolving, with a growing emphasis on long-term incentives. However, the CGLytics study conducted on pay for performance alignment shows a material misalignment between pay and performance within many FTSE 100 companies during 2017:

  • 33% of companies have a pay for performance misalignment
  • 34% of companies display a strong alignment
  • 32% of the companies show a conservative pay practice for the performance generated, compared to other FTSE 100 companies.

 

With the 2019 proxy season fast approaching, boards need to be fully prepared to engage with shareholders. Having the same information as proxy advisors and investors is fundamental to proxy season readiness and good governance decision-making.

CGLytics provides real-time governance risk analytics and solutions that provide actionable insight for companies, shareholders and proxy advisors. We empower boards of companies and investors with data analytics that enables good governance.

In preparation for the 2019 proxy season, CGLytics released its third annual FTSE 100 Proxy Season report. This series of articles summarise some of the key findings. Access the full insights and statistics by downloading the report.

Aniel Mahabier

CGLytics

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