TheInvestment and Financial Services Associationis seeking to put paid to suggestions that fund managers aren’t being sufficiently proactive in voting their shares in company ballots.
Reacting to reports that industry funds have been leading the way in terms of tougher corporate governance by voting their shares on major issues affecting companies, IFSA deputy chief executive, Jo-Anne Bloch says the record of Australian fund managers has in fact been strong.
The reports and media commentary followed a decision by theSuperannuation Trust of Australiato provide a report to members summarising its record of voting in publicly listed companies in which it holds shares.
Bloch has countered suggestions that industry funds are leading the way in such disclosure saying a survey of IFSA members shows that fund managers voted on 92 per cent of all company resolutions between July 2002 and July 2003 and that many funds have detailed their voting activity on web sites and elsewhere.
Bloch says that fund managers who belong to IFSA comply with the organisation’s corporate governance guidelines, number two of which states: “Fund managers should vote on all material issues at all Australian company meetings where they the voting authority and responsibility to do so.”
“Fund managers tend to conduct their business directly with the companies in which they invest,” she says. “Many issues never make it to the resolution or annual general meeting stage as a result of direct fund manager representations.”
“The view shared by IFSA members is that public displays of voting intentions can create uncertainty, lead to the dissemination of misleading information, or result in actins that are neither constructive nor actually lead to change where change is required,” Bloch says.
