ISS Releases 2012 Proxy Voting Policies

Institutional Shareholder Services yesterday released updates to its proxy voting guidelines for 2012. As we discussed in October, draft updates were published last month.

The final version of the guidelines for TSX-listed companies includes updates on ISS' policies with respect to voting on director nominees in uncontested elections to add an explicit reference to risk oversight in the rationale for the voting recommendation. According to ISS, the intention is not to penalize boards for taking prudent business risks or for exhibiting reasonable risk appetite but, rather, to address situations where there has been a material failure in a board's role in overseeing the company's risk management practices.