Betty Moy Huber is counsel and Paula Simpkins is an associate at Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP. This post is based on their Davis Polk memorandum.
On October 14, 2020, ISS released its proposed voting policy changes for 2021. The changes for the United States focus mainly in these three areas: (1) racial and ethnic board diversity, (2) board oversight of environmental, climate and social risks and (3) exclusive forum provisions.
ISS requests feedback on the proposed changes. Market participants can submit comments via email to [email protected] through 5:00 PM ET on Monday, October 26, 2020. ISS expects to release its final voting policies in the first half of November 2020.
Over the summer, ISS administered its annual benchmarking voting policy survey to market participants. It plans to use the survey results, which we discussed here, to inform its benchmarking policies. Two of the three topics covered by the proposed changes, diversity and board accountability for climate risk, were included in ISS’s survey. The proposed policies, however, do not update the following topics covered by the survey: ISS’s COVID-19-adjusted policies, independent board chair, and auditors and audit committees.