Say On Pay Comes To Canada

In recent weeks, proposals to adopt "say on pay" have been approved at annual shareholder meetings or adopted by management at Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Royal Bank of Canada, The Bank of Nova Scotia, Bank of Montreal, National Bank of Canada and the TMX Group Inc. Similar proposals will be addressed at upcoming shareholder meetings of The Toronto-Dominion Bank and other major Canadian companies.

"Say on pay" refers to an annual advisory shareholder vote on executive compensation reports. While the introduction of advisory shareholder votes is new in Canada, similar initiatives have been in place in the UK and several European countries for several years. The say on pay initiative is also gathering momentum in the US, with several issuers voluntarily adopting an advisory vote for shareholders on executive compensation matters.