ISS Governance announced commencement of the public comment period on its proposed benchmark policy changes for 2026. This solicitation of comments follows ISS’ September release of results from its 2025 Global Benchmark Policy Survey in which, as it does every year, ISS sought input from institutional investors, companies and other market constituents regarding potential areas for change. ISS expects to announce its actual benchmark policy changes before the end of November 2025.

The comment period will remain open through 5:00 pm ET on November 11, 2025, so time is of the essence. The final updated policies will generally apply to shareholder meetings taking place on or after February 1, 2026.

Changes are proposed worldwide; the proposed changes for the US are summarized below. As is typical, ISS’ proposed changes focus on corporate governance matters but, in a somewhat unusual development this year, the bulk of the items for the US relate to director and executive compensation matters. This development is particularly noteworthy given ISS’ relative lack of emphasis on compensation matters in recent years, including 2024, when ISS provided no compensation-related policy updates.

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