RW Success: State Street Accepts Greater Proxy Voting Responsibility

Responsible Wealth's shareholder resolution for a review of proxy voting practices at State Street Global Advisors garners a shift in the financial institution's policy. James McRitchie of CorpGov.net congratulates RW and Walden Asset Management for their sustained effort and recent success.

Original publication: CorpGov.net

Date of publication: 01/20/2010

"Last year Walden Asset Management filed a resolution at State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) seeking a proxy review. While SSgA successfully obtained a “no-action” letter from the SEC, their voting practices were still the subject of a debate at the annual meeting. This year United for a Fair Economy picked up the torch and filed a similar appeal. This time, SSgA responded positively and UFE has withdrawn its resolution. [...]

According to Timothy Smith of Walden Assets, SSgA will now abstain if the resolution’s economic impact case is not clear, but will vote FOR resolutions where a strong case regarding how this affects shareholder value is made. [...]

Our congratulations to Walden’s Timothy Smith and to Mike Lapham of Responsible Wealth. [...]"

Read the full article by James McRitchie on CorpGov.net.