Challenging Corporate Governance: Japanese PM Swipes at Companies’ Shareholder Focus 14 November 2025 By Jack Grogan-Fenn Japan’s Prime Minster Sanae Takaichi has condemned companies for having too great a focus on their shareholders and taking insufficient action to increase wages in the country. Takaichi reportedly said that she thinks there has “been a trend of […]

The FRC has published three new sets of reporting guidance, two on stewardship code reporting and one on non-executive director remuneration.

Remuneration Retraction: ANZ Bonuses Pulled Amid Misconduct Scandal 11 November 2025 By Jack Grogan-Fenn Current and former executive members of the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ) have had A$32 million (U$20.9 million) in bonuses pulled following a high-profile bond misconduct scandal in one of the largest cases of Australian company compensation malus. […]

Tesla Trillion: Shareholders Approve Musk’s Significant CEO Pay Award 7 November 2025 By Jack Grogan-Fenn Shareholders at electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer Tesla have voted in favour of a high-profile U$1 trillion pay award for CEO Elon Musk which would see his position as the world’s richest person further solidified. While full voting results for the […]

Microsoft has controversially blocked a shareholder proposal from it 5 Decembers AGM agenda without written ‘no action’ support from the SEC.

Influencing Inequality: TISFD Paper Aims to Enhance “Clarity and Coherence” 4 November 2025 By Jack Grogan-Fenn The Taskforce on Inequality and Social-related Financial Disclosures (TISFD) has released a discussion paper as part of its efforts to bring “clarity and coherence” to understanding and addressing inequality and social issues. The recently published “Conceptual Foundations” discussion paper […]

Patching Proxy Plumbing: CII Urges SEC to Improve Voting Transparency 31 October 2025 By Jack Grogan-Fenn The Council of Institutional Investors (CII) has sent a letter to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) urging it to consider changes to promote proxy voting reliability and transparency, as well as increasing transparency over executive pay. In […]

What’s Up Down Under: Australia Peak AGM Season Snapshot 29 October 2025 By Jack Grogan-Fenn Australia’s peak AGM season is underway in earnest, with climate- and remuneration-related resolutions seeing some notable cases of shareholders showing their dissatisfaction with companies. Shareholder proposals in Australia are relatively rare, with Australian companies not allowing shareholders to file advisory […]

Advocacy organisation Majority Action has added its voice to the pushback against Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s highly controversial U$1 trillion pay package.

Corporate Governance Changes: ASX Approves Overhaul of Principles Process 24 October 2025 By Jack Grogan-Fenn The Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) has agreed to assume responsibility for developing, approving and issuing its Corporate Governance Principles and Recommendations, effectively scrapping the long-running Corporate Governance Council. ASX is now set to implement the recommendations from independent panel review […]

Exxon Action: Shareholders Launch Lawsuit Over Retail Voting Program 21 October 2025 By Jack Grogan-Fenn Oil and gas giant ExxonMobil has been sued by shareholders in an attempt to stop the company’s controversial Retail Voting Program (RVP) which was recently ratified by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In a proposed class action lawsuit, […]

Eliminating Environmental and Social: SEC’s Atkins Suggests States Could Prevent Proposals 20 October 2025 By Jack Grogan-Fenn The US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Chair Paul Atkins has suggested that the “intersection” between its Rule 14a-8 and state corporate law could be exploited to exclude environmental and social shareholder proposals. In a recent keynote address […]

Backing BPPG: Industry Experts Voice Support for Proxy Advisors’ Position 17 October 2025 By Jack Grogan-Fenn The role of proxy advisors, the threat of onerous and heavy-handed regulation and concerns over so-called ‘robovoting’ were among the topics discussed during the recent Best Practice Principles (BPP) Oversight Committee’s Annual Forum 2025. Proxy advisors have this year […]

Climbing Cyber Concerns: UK Government Issues Warning to Companies 15 October 2025 By Jack Grogan-Fenn The UK’s Labour Government has sent a letter to FTSE 350 companies warning about “hostile” cyber activity which is becoming “more intense, frequent and sophisticated” and calling on them to act to help address this risk. The letter stated that […]

Arbitration Adversity: Class Action Campaign Condemns US SEC Policy Shift 14 October 2025 By Jack Grogan-Fenn Class action lawyers in the US are mounting a collective push back against a change in the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) policy towards forced shareholder arbitration clauses, which they argue could have a severe, detrimental effect on […]

Canadian Compensation Crackdown: CCGG Issues Executive Pay-focused Guidebook 10 October 2025 By Jack Grogan-Fenn The Canadian Coalition for Good Governance (CCGG) has heightened its focus on executive and director compensation with the publication of a guidebook presenting institutional investors’ perspectives on some of the region’s most important “relevant” remuneration topics. Topics covered in the document […]

Slashing Sustainability: US Moves to Usurp EU Green Rules 10 October 2025 By Jack Grogan-Fenn The US has thrown down a new gauntlet on the EU’s green rules, requesting that the bloc significantly diminish aspects of its sustainability-focused legislation at the same time as the European Commission’s first omnibus package approaches its crescendo. The new […]

Australia’s AGM peak season is imminent, with shareholders filing an array of resolutions seeking to challenge some of the country’s largest listed companies over the coming month.

Zeroing Out: NZBA Members Vote to Halt All Activities 6 October 2025 By Jack Grogan-Fenn The Net Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA) has voted to immediately cease operations and instead shift to a guidance-based model, marking a further blow to attempts to curb climate change. The alliance’s overhaul in approach was announced on Friday following a vote […]

Taking Tesla to Task: Shareholders Rally Against Musk’s Pay Package 3 October 2025 By Jack Grogan-Fenn Shareholders at US electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer Tesla have sent a letter urging fellow investors to vote against CEO Elon Musk’s proposed U$1 trillion pay package and to oppose the re-election of three directors at the company’s AGM next […]

Pushing Passivity: Shareholders Scald Exxon Retail Investor-focused Programme 2 October 2025 By Jack Grogan-Fenn As You Sow and the Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) have filed a request with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to rescind its recent “effective approval” of oil and gas giant ExxonMobil’s “Retail Voting Program”. Exxon received approval […]

California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed a bill which aims to “enhance online safety by installing commonsense guardrails on the development of frontier artificial intelligence (AI) models.

European Commission further delays EU deforestation-free regulation, citing unresolved IT system challenges.

Supporting the SDGs: Minerva Backs UN Global Flag Campaign 25 September 2025 By Jack Grogan-Fenn Minerva Analytics has reaffirmed its support for the United Nations’ (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by backing the SDG Flag Day global campaign for a third consecutive year. Minerva is committed to catalysing meaningful change to address the most urgent […]

Shareholder Rights Skirmish: Investor Group Lambasts Congressional Interference 23 September 2025 By Jack Grogan-Fenn Investor association the Shareholder Rights Group has submitted comments criticising the recent House Committee on Financial Services proxy advisor-focused hearing and its potential impact on shareholder rights. The “Proxy Power and Proposal Abuse: Reforming Rule 14a-8 to Protect Shareholder Value” hearing by […]