Consistent with other major institutional investor policy updates this season, among other things, Fidelity’s updated Proxy Voting Guidelines eliminate expectations for gender and racial or ethnic board diversity and focus instead on a range of experiences, perspectives, skills, and personal characteristics relevant to effective corporate governance practices. Presumably in response to the recently issued staff guidance on 13G eligibility, the Guidelines, which were most recently updated in October 2024, also specifically disavow a control intent. See the redline comparison to the October 2024 Guidelines and the updated Sustainable Proxy Voting Guidelines – Shareholder Proposals on Natural and Human Capital Issues.UBS’s 2025 proxy voting guidelines eliminate specific board gender and ethnic diversity expectations in favor of diversity in its broadest sense. See the redline comparison to the 2024 guidelines.
Numerous additional updated voting policies and guidelines are posted on our Institutional Investors page here.
This post first appeared in the weekly Society Alert!