Proxy Advisory Firms Release 2016 Policy Updates

Institutional Shareholder Services (“ISS”) and Glass Lewis recently released their 2016 policy updates, which will apply to 2016 annual meetings held on or after January 1 for Glass Lewis and February 1 for ISS. The compensation-related policy changes for the U.S. and Canada are, for the most part, relatively minor or apply to only a limited number of companies. One major change is ISS’ Canadian roll-out of its equity plan scorecard for stock plan proposals, similar to the one unveiled in the U.S. for 2015, to companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (“TSX”). The full ISS and Glass Lewis policy updates for 2016, which also include various governance items (e.g., director “overboarding”), are available on their websites.

Both groups have also set the dates for issuers to update their peer groups in 2015: ISS – December 11, and Glass Lewis – December 31.