On July 30 2018, Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (ISS) launched its annual global policy survey for 2018, a key component of their annual global policy development process, looking at potential changes for 2019.
The 2018 survey (as was the 2017 survey) is conducted in two parts, beginning with a high-level ISS Governance Principles Survey covering some global high-profile governance topics including auditors, audit committees, director accountability, gender diversity in the boardroom and the “one-share, one-vote” principle.
The second part of the survey follows on and is a more in-depth portion of the survey, broken down by region, containing an expansive and detailed set of questions. Several questions which form the second part of the questionnaire relate to Europe, and focus largely on LTIPs and non-executive director pay.
A question in the EMEA region questionnaire seeks information on Chair's Responsibility in Contentious Executive Pay Situations, focusing specifically on the UK.
ISS notes that there have been recent examples of relatively high dissenting shareholder votes against chairs in such situations, often accompanied by high dissenting votes against remuneration committee members. In some cases, the chair was not a member of the remuneration committee. ISS asks for views as to:
Comments are requested on the first part of the survey August 24 2018 and on the second part by September 21 2018.
ISS proposes a public comment period on the final changes.
(ISS’ Annual Policy Survey 2018: Part One – 30.07.18)
(ISS’ Annual Policy Survey 2018: Part Two (EMEA) – 30.07.18)