Industry moguls flex stewardship muscles over board shortcomings

Firms double size of their stewardship teams

Some of the world's largest asset managers have boosted engagement efforts with the companies they invest in over the past year, targeting executive pay, environmental and social concerns and corporate policy, in the industry's latest show of strength over board failings.

BlackRock, Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM), Northern Trust Asset Management, State Street Global Advisors (SSGA), UBS Asset Management and Vanguard, which together manage in excess of $17trn, have comfortably doubled the size of their stewardship teams between 2013 and 2018 to an average of 18, a report published last week from global advisory firm Willis Towers Watson shows.  LGIM, which itself published a report last week on engagement practice, revealed it had voted against 3,864 company directors globally in 2018, a 37% increase from 2017, after strengthening its voting ...