Forum Home Page [see Broadridge note below]

 The Shareholder ForumTM`

Fair Investor Access

This public program was initiated in collaboration with The Conference Board Task Force on Corporate/Investor Engagement and with Thomson Reuters support of communication technologies. The Forum is providing continuing reports of the issues that concern this program's participants, as summarized  in the January 5, 2015 Forum Report of Conclusions.

"Fair Access" Home Page

"Fair Access" Program Reference

 

Related Projects 2012-2019

For graphed analyses of company and related industry returns, see

Returns on Corporate Capital

See also analyses of

Shareholder Support Rankings

 
 
 

 

For other reports of the controversy over rights to shareholder voting information addressed in the article below, see:

 

Source: Reuters, May 20, 2013 article

Reuters

JPMorgan, under pressure, gives polling information to investors

(Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N), under pressure from the New York Attorney General's office, has agreed to give investors information about upcoming ballot votes, after the company that collects votes on the measures stopped giving out polling information last week.

The bank's annual meeting is on Tuesday, and by far the most controversial matter up for vote is whether bank head Jamie Dimon should retain his chief executive role but be stripped of his chairman title. Investors that sponsored the measure, including a government workers' union pension fund, said the bank's CEO has too much sway over the board, and needs more oversight. Dimon has hinted that if he is no longer chairman, he may leave the bank.

Last week, the company that collects votes from investors, Broadridge Financial Solutions Inc, (BR.N) stopped telling the shareholders how votes had been cast so far for this and other measures. Investors use this information to determine how to tailor their campaigns. JPMorgan was not immediately available for comment.

Receiving the information at this late state is of limited use, said Dieter Waizenegger, executive director of the CtW Investment Group, which advises pensions that were voting against the bank in a separate measure regarding the reelection of directors.

"We were cut off from the tallies during the crucial week leading up to the meeting," Waizenegger said.

It is unclear precisely why Broadridge stopped giving information to investors. The company told Reuters on Friday that the decision was not its own, and instead came from the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, a trade group whose members include JPMorgan.

On Saturday, SIFMA said that when it spoke to the company, Broadridge had already made up its mind to suspend passing along information. On Sunday, Broadridge said that the decision to stop passing along information was its own, and was based on its agreement with SIFMA that a broader review of the matter is warranted. On Monday, Broadridge said in a statement that it follows Securities and Exchange Commission regulations, and there are no rules requiring that voting information be provided to proponents of proxy measures.

Broadridge added, "given concerns raised by multiple broker clients regarding the release of this voting, we have stopped releasing voting information to proponents ..."

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman's office tried to learn on Thursday and Friday how a decision was made, according to a source familiar with the matter. Late Friday, Schneiderman's office sent a letter to JPMorgan's general counsel, Stephen Cutler, raising concerns about what had happened, the source said.

Staff from the Attorney General's office held two conference calls with JPMorgan on Saturday, and the bank agreed to tell Broadridge to provide interim results to the sponsors, the source said.

Broadridge then balked at providing the information, because it was not sure it had the legal authority to, the source said. But JPMorgan agreed to give the information directly to the sponsors as long as they signed a confidentiality agreement, the source added.

(Reporting by Dan Wilchins; Editing by Bernard Orr)


©2013 Thomson Reuters.

 

This Forum program was open, free of charge, to anyone concerned with investor interests in the development of marketplace standards for expanded access to information for securities valuation and shareholder voting decisions. As stated in the posted Conditions of Participation, the purpose of this public Forum's program was to provide decision-makers with access to information and a free exchange of views on the issues presented in the program's Forum Summary. Each participant was expected to make independent use of information obtained through the Forum, subject to the privacy rights of other participants.  It is a Forum rule that participants will not be identified or quoted without their explicit permission.

This Forum program was initiated in 2012 in collaboration with The Conference Board and with Thomson Reuters support of communication technologies to address issues and objectives defined by participants in the 2010 "E-Meetings" program relevant to broad public interests in marketplace practices. The website is being maintained to provide continuing reports of the issues addressed in the program, as summarized in the January 5, 2015 Forum Report of Conclusions.

Inquiries about this Forum program and requests to be included in its distribution list may be addressed to access@shareholderforum.com.

The information provided to Forum participants is intended for their private reference, and permission has not been granted for the republishing of any copyrighted material. The material presented on this web site is the responsibility of Gary Lutin, as chairman of the Shareholder Forum.

Shareholder Forum™ is a trademark owned by The Shareholder Forum, Inc., for the programs conducted since 1999 to support investor access to decision-making information. It should be noted that we have no responsibility for the services that Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc., introduced for review in the Forum's 2010 "E-Meetings" program and has since been offering with the “Shareholder Forum” name, and we have asked Broadridge to use a different name that does not suggest our support or endorsement.