NYSE Seeks To Eliminate Discretionary Broker Voting
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The New York Stock Exchange said it moved to eliminate broker discretionary voting on the election of company directors, a reform that would kick in for all shareholder meetings held in 2008.
To make the change, the Big Board, a unit of NYSE Group Inc., said it is seeking the Securities and Exchange Commission’s approval to amend exchange rule 452.
The exchange said in a statement Tuesday that the rule allows brokers to vote on certain “routine” proposals if the beneficial owner of the stock has not provided voting instructions at least 10 days before a scheduled meeting.
In the statement, NYSE co-Chief Operating Officer Catherine Kinney said that “the election of directors is simply too important to ever be considered routine, even where the election is uncontested.”
The NYSE’s proposal follows recommendations made by a proxy working group that included several experts. The group’s report also recommended “that elements of the proxy and shareholder communications process be improved,” the NYSE said.
