Just before Christmas, ISS announced its 2024 Benchmark Policy Updates, which will be effective for meetings on or after February 1, 2024. They also released an Americas Policy Updates document. As we blogged when ISS opened its proposed policy changes for comment, there are no changes to the US Benchmark Proxy Voting Guidelines.
The one update for US companies is a clarification that codifies ISS’s case-by-case approach on shareholder proposals seeking shareholder ratification of golden parachute and severance arrangements or payments (see page 3 of the Americas Policy Updates). This updated policy harmonizes the factors used to analyze both regular termination severance and change-in-control severance and clarifies the key factors considered in such case-by-case analysis.
Having scarcely any changes to ISS voting policies for US companies is quite a rarity! In addition, ISS’ ESG group published a thought leadership report, “2023 Global Climate Change Update,” which isn’t related to ISS voting guidelines – but is good information if you’re interested in climate change issues.