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BlackRock has announced a partnership with Proxymity to expand its Voting Choice programme, the firm’s proxy voting system, offering a pilot scheme for individual investors in select UK mutual funds.
This follows high growth rates for the programme, with onboarding rates doubling since May 2022 and newly committed index equity assets under management up more than 30 per cent to US$157 billion as of 30 September 2022.
The pilot will allow eligible investors to choose how their shareholder votes are passed for the 2023 proxy voting season, with BlackRock and Proxymity using pass-through technology in their collaborative solution.
In the November 2022 expansion, clients have access to seven Glass Lewis proxy voting policies, giving them the ability to choose a policy that caters to their specific needs.
Systematic active equity funds are now also eligible for the programme.
Larry Fink, chairman and CEO of BlackRock, says: “Voting choice can empower asset owners to have a deeper and more direct connection to the companies they are invested in and allow company management to better understand the views of these asset owners on critical governance issues.
“It is clear there are investors who do not want to sit on the sidelines; they have a view on corporate governance, and they want a meaningful way to express those views. We are working to make that easier and more efficient for a larger number of investors. We are committed to continually evolving this offering.”
