Allianz Global Investors will vote against large European companies failing to link executive pay to ESG metrics in 2023, the money manager said Tuesday in a news release on its 2021 voting record.
For 2022, AllianzGI told U.K. and U.S. companies it holds that it expects to see a diversity approach "beyond gender."
With $762 billion under management, AllianzGI voted on nearly 110,000 shareholder and management proposals and found "a continued and stark disparity in corporate governance standards across the world," it said in the release.
Of the 10,190 shareholder meetings worldwide that it was involved in last year, it voted against, withheld or abstained from at least one agenda item at 68% of all meetings globally, and opposed 21%.
The picture was different in the U.K., where it opposed just 4% of all proposals, citing strong corporate governance standards and support for boards. By contrast, AllianzGI opposed 40% of proposals in U.S. meetings, and 32% in Italy and Japan.
Proposals related to executive compensation were some of the most contentious, with AllianzGI voting against 47% of management proposals, including against 20% in the U.K.
AllianzGI also pressed companies in 2021 to provide clear climate targets and commit to annual reporting, and supported all management proposals at 30 companies, following extensive engagement.
