BNP Paribas Asset Management (BNPP AM) opposed 37% of resolutions at investee company annual general meetings (AGM) this season, up from 33% in 2022. Fifty-five percent of executive compensation resolutions were rejected, with BNPP AM noting that there remains variable remuneration being paid without ESG-related performance requirements, as well as an “excessive catch-up effect” compared to 2022, which was “marked by declining remuneration due to the impacts of the pandemic”. The asset manager also rejected 48% of director appointment resolutions, predominantly for diversity reasons, as companies failed to meet its minimum thresholds of a 35% female board membership in Europe and North America and a 20% female board membership in Latin America, Asia and the Middle East. Michael Herskovich, Head of Voting and Governance at BNPP AM, said: “Voting is an important component of our dialogue with the companies in which we invest on behalf of our clients, as well as being an integral part of our investment management processes. This is why it is essential to maintain this high point of shareholder democracy, where dialogue is established between managers, individual shareholders and institutional investors. We advocate hybrid AGMs, with the same rights for those who vote remotely and in person.”
