BlackRock announced that beginning January 1, 2022, it will allow certain institutional clients (i.e., those invested in index strategies within institutional separate accounts globally and certain pooled funds managed by BlackRock in the US and UK), constituting approximately 40% of the $4.8 trillion index equity assets it manages for its clients and more than 60 million people globally invested in retirement assets, to vote their proxies.
More specifically, eligible institutional clients will have the option to:
- Vote their proxies according to their own policy and transmit their votes using their own voting infrastructure.
- Select from a menu of third-party proxy voting policies, with votes cast according to the selected policy using BlackRock’s voting infrastructure.
- Direct votes on individual resolutions or companies of their choice using BlackRock’s voting infrastructure (available only to clients in institutional separate accounts).
- Continue to have BlackRock vote its proxies according to BlackRock’s voting policy using its voting infrastructure.
BlackRock will continue to vote proxies for those clients that don’t opt in. According to the release, based on feedback from eligible clients, many want BlackRock to continue voting on their behalf while others want more direct participation in the proxy voting process; this approach will facilitate the ability to make that choice.
The release indicates BlackRock aims to extend the voting choices to more investor clients in the future.
See “Blackrock to permit some clients to vote—what will be the impact?” (Cooley); these articles from ESG Today, WSJ, Reuters, Pensions & Investments, and Responsible Investor; and our recent report: “SEC Proposal Would Enhance Fund Proxy Vote Disclosure.”
This post first appeared in the weekly Society Alert!