Reuters, May 29, 2025, article: "Vanguard expands 'Investor Choice' proxy voting program" [Major fund manager reports continuing development of "pass-through" shareholder voting]

Forum Home Page [see Broadridge note below]

The Shareholder Forum^TM`

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

Forum distribution:

Major fund manager reports continuing development of "pass-through" shareholder voting

For other news and professional views addressing the interests of Forum participants in the engagement of individual "ultimate owners of capital," see the references listed here.

Source: Reuters, May 29, 2025, article

Vanguard expands "Investor Choice" proxy voting program

By Ross Kerber

May 29, 2025 12:30 PM EDT

The logo for Vanguard is displayed on a screen on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., June 1, 2022. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo

May 29 (Reuters) - Top mutual fund manager Vanguard Group on Thursday said it would roughly triple to 10 million the number of investors eligible to direct proxy votes in their funds, continuing an effort that would reduce the firm's direct impact on shareholder elections.

Closely-held Vanguard said it added four equity index funds to its "Investor Choice" program, bringing it to nearly $1 trillion in eligible assets from around $250 million previously. Vanguard has $10.1 trillion in total assets.

Participating investors do not specify votes at specific companies, but rather choose among several policy options including one that backs company recommendations and options that tend to support, or oppose, environmental and social matters in corporate elections.

Other fund firms including BlackRock and Charles Schwab's asset management arm have developed similar programs. Ata time when the industry faces growing scrutiny of its influential votes, the programs could diminish the criticism facing the managers themselves.

Last year Vanguard's stewardship chief said only 2% of eligible investors opted in to a previous version of its voting-choice program, but vowed to keep building it.

Reporting by Ross Kerber

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 using the “Shareholder Forum” name, and we have asked Broadridge to use a different name that does not suggest our support or endorsement.