Two interesting things about this. First is the increased interest in independent board chairs in Europe. And the second is that for the umpteenth time we again see that ISS follows the customers at least as often as the other way around.

The independence of company chairs in Europe could figure heavily in the deliberations of one of the chief proxy advisers as it formulates its policies for the 2020 season of annual meetings.

Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) found that nearly two-thirds (62%) of investors who responded to a survey believe the proxy adviser should recommend voting against the election or re-election of a board chair if they are not “independent”, regardless of the overall independence of their board.

via Board independence revealed as key issue for investors in 2020