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BlackRock announces plans to allow investors to vote their own proxies (2023)
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| • What is ESG? • Enacted ESG legislation • Arguments for and against ESG • Opposition to ESG • Federal ESG rules • ESG legislation tracker • Economy and Society: Ballotpedia's weekly ESG newsletter |
The Big Three passive asset management firms—BlackRock, State Street, and Vanguard—have been criticized for using investors’ money in pursuit of political goals. The firms use the funds that they invest on behalf of their clients and vote the proxies that, outside of a pooled index or mutual fund, investors would typically vote themselves. ESG critics have said that such practices undermine shareholder rights.
BlackRock has responded to this criticism by promising to give their clients the ability to vote the proxies associated with their stock shares. The firm began allowing some large institutional clients to vote their proxies last year and is ready to open the option to more investors:
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The world's top asset manager BlackRock said it will offer proxy voting choices to U.S. retail investors of its biggest exchange-traded fund, expanding a strategy that could blunt criticism of how the firm considers environmental, social and governance (ESG) matters. A representative for New York-based BlackRock said it plans to announce on Monday that investors in its iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV.P) will be able to chose among a range of policies to determine how the fund votes their shares at corporate annual meetings. Retail investors hold about half of the $305 billion fund's assets. Fund clients will be able to choose among voting plans from proxy advisers Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass Lewis & Co, including one that prioritizes climate considerations and a new ISS offering, aimed at conservatives, that favors company managements. Investors will not be able to specify votes in specific company elections. But the program meant for the 2024 proxy season still marks a significant expansion of BlackRock's efforts to give investors control, to date meant for institutional customers. While many clients will rely on the votes BlackRock will continue to cast, "consistent with our fiduciary duty as an investment manager, others want the choice to participate in proxy voting more directly," said Joud Abdel Majeid, Global Head of BlackRock Investment Stewardship, in a statement.[1] |
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See also
- Environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG)
- Economy and Society: Ballotpedia's ESG newsletter
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
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