Zurich, 29 November 2022 – In the 10th SWIPRA Corporate Governance Survey amongst institutional shareholders and companies, ESG is ranked as the top engagement topic for the first time. Concurrently, the survey also shows that both sides also point at each other when asked why progress towards global climate targets is moving to slowly: For 56% of companies, investors' short-term optimization of returns deters faster progress towards climate targets; 47% of investors, on the other hand, see the reason for this slow pace in the short-term oriented remuneration systems of companies. The remuneration issue, which was the focus of the SWIPRA survey series starting ten years ago, is now also assessed strongly from an ESG point of view. 74% of shareholders criticize that ESG incentives have too little weight in companies’ remuneration systems. There is also a need for discussion towards the Annual General Meetings in 2024: On the one hand, there are different opinions on the required substance in the reporting for the say-on-sustainability, i.e., the vote on non-financial disclosures. On the other hand, many shareholders are still unaware that their rights will remain unchanged, regardless of whether the 2024 AGM will be held virtually or physically.
Newsletter Survey 2022 - Download
Previous Surveys
Newsletter 2021 - Download
Newsletter 2020 - Download
Präsentation 2019 (E) - Download
Präsentation 2018 (E) - Download
Präsentation 2017 (E) - Download
Präsentation 2016 (E) - Download
Präsentation 2015 (E) - Download
Präsentation 2014 (E) - Download
Zurich, December 8, 2021 - The results of the 9th SWIPRA Corporate Governance Survey confirm the central role of corporate governance in meaningfully integrating sustainability into corporate strategy. The survey shows that Swiss boards of directors are overall well positioned: Institutional shareholders place a high and even increased level of trust in Swiss boards. However, from the shareholders' point of view, boards still take insufficient responsibility for social (“S”) and environmental (“E”) topics. In their view, it often remains unclear to what extent E&S considerations are incorporated into strategic decisions – from the business model, to compensation, to leadership and the associated board composition or to capital allocation, for example investments in new technologies.
A majority of companies is in the process of comprehensively assessing and, if needed, adjusting existing business models, internal structures and responsibilities, as well as comprehensively revising ESG-disclosure. In Switzerland, starting 2024, this sustainability-reporting will become subject to a shareholder vote at the annual general meeting (AGM), and an overwhelming majority of survey participants prefer a consultative say-on-sustainability vote.
Therefore, it is important to understand, internally as well as externally, what opportunities and threats arise from E&S factors and which strategic adjustments, if any, should be made. This is necessary to ensure that not only trust in governance remains high in the future, but also that the understanding of the E&S integration in business models is better understood.
The survey further provides insights on topics such as ESG reporting standards, the content of non-financial reporting (NFR), E&S in compensation plans, shareholder dialogue and the future format of AGMs.
Newsletter Survey 2021 - Download
Previous Surveys
Newsletter 2020 - Download
Präsentation 2019 (E) - Download
Präsentation 2018 (E) - Download
Präsentation 2017 (E) - Download
Präsentation 2016 (E) - Download
Präsentation 2015 (E) - Download
Präsentation 2014 (E) - Download
Zurich, November 3, 2020 - The 8th SWIPRA Corporate Governance Survey shows important shifts of priorities regarding corporate governance, sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR) among international market participants. The board of directors and its committees are expected to show more leadership and participate more actively in shareholder engagements and a "private-to-public" dialogue with stakeholders concerning CSR. Investors consider compensation systems not to be sufficiently aligned with social and environmental priorities and judge adjustments to bonus payments due to Covid-19 highly controversial. Investors often try to standardize their assessment of CSR factors by means of environmental and sustainability ratings, although the credibility of such ratings remains rather modest in the market, despite the high level of attention and focus on a few providers. Instead, shareholders should increasingly review CSR information as disclosed by companies and seek a dialogue with them on these topics. Further, the majority of institutional shareholders is prepared to support shareholder resolutions at AGMs, that will become easier in Switzerland following the revision of the stock corporate law, and would like to see a more extensive disclosure by companies on due diligence along their global supply chain. This goes along with a strong desire for the possibility to vote on a company's sustainability report at the AGM. In addition, there is a clear preference for hybrid AGMs in the market. The survey also reveals interesting opinions on further regulatory issues and shareholder rights.
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Presentation of key findings - Download
Previous Surveys
Presentation Survey 2019 - Download
Presentation Survey 2018 - Download
Presentation Survey 2017 - Download
Presentation Survey 2016 - Download
Presentation Survey 2015 - Download
Presentation Survey 2014 - Download
Presentation Survey 2013 - Download
Zurich, November 6, 2019 - Results from the 7th SWIPRA Corporate Governance Survey show that institutional shareholders find it difficult to understand how corporate social responsibility is anchored in corporate strategies. For their part, companies often do not understand how their socially responsible actions influence shareholders' investment and voting decisions at shareholder meetings. Better disclosure and a broadly-based governance dialogue between shareholders and boards of directors will help to close these gaps in mutual understanding. This is important since a large fraction of institutional investors believe that boards of directors are not acting diligently enough in terms of corporate social responsibility. Contrary to previous years, a majority of investors expect to see performance targets related to socially responsible behavior to be included in the compensation framework. Many market participants will have to change their views, as the topic of corporate social responsibility cannot be treated as an abstract, detached issue by itself, but needs to become an integral part of corporate strategy and its implementation.
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Press Release - Download
Presentation of key findings - Download
Previous Surveys
Presentation Survey 2018 - Download
Presentation Survey 2017 - Download
Presentation Survey 2016 - Download
Presentation Survey 2015 - Download
Presentation Survey 2014 - Download
Presentation Survey 2013 - Download
Decisions and responsibilities - Decreasing influence of proxy advisors and growing demands on the board of directors
The 6th SWIPRA Corporate Governance Survey provides new insights into the role of proxy advisors. Large international investors are increasingly using standardized data from proxy advisors as a basis for their own decisions instead of just following voting recommendations. In view of the diminishing direct influence of proxy advisors, the dialogue between the board of directors and shareholders, which fosters a mutual understanding, continues gaining importance. The SWIPRA survey shows that investors are demanding more information on board composition, board member independence and the board’s accountability regarding corporate social responsibility (CSR). Issues relating to remuneration and disclosure remain highly relevant. In particular international investors are of the opinion that Swiss companies do not act in a sufficiently socially responsible manner and that CSR goals are not adequately anchored in variable compensations’ performance assessments.
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Press Release - Download
Presentation of key findings - Download
Previous Surveys
Presentation Survey 2017 - Download
Presentation Survey 2016 - Download
Presentation Survey 2015 - Download
Presentation Survey 2014 - Download
Presentation Survey 2013 - Download
The course is set prior to the AGM: the growing importance of governance activism
The decisive interaction between shareholders and issuers increasingly takes place throughout the year in so-called engagement discussions rather than at the general shareholder meetings. These engagements generally involve members of the board of directors and are requested predominantly by international institutional shareholders. Engagement discussions decisively influence issuers’ governance structures and are increasingly indispensable for companies to counter the standardized views of some market participants, in particular proxy advisors. This empirical finding is one of the key results of the SWIPRA Corporate Governance Survey 2017. Investors continue to criticize the disclosure of performance-related compensation in this year’s survey and are, contrary to previous years’ views, increasingly willing to express their discontent in binding votes on compensation amounts. Moreover, investors perceive the disclosure on corporate social responsibility of Swiss issuers credible, though they are looking for better transparency regarding the responsibilities of the board of directors in this field.
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Press Release - Download
Presentation of key findings - Download
Previous Surveys
Presentation Survey 2016 - Download
Presentation Survey 2015 - Download
Presentation Survey 2014 - Download
Presentation Survey 2013 - Download
The slides of this webinar are available here.
A recording of the webinar can be viewed here.
Efforts related to shareholder votes on management compensation agenda items are considered disproportionate compared to their value relevance. This is a finding of the third corporate governance survey conducted by the Swiss proxy advisor SWIPRA. All surveyed groups – pension funds, Swiss and foreign institutional asset managers and all SPI® companies – do not perceive compensation related agenda items as the most important value driver for a company, while the analysis of these agenda items was particularly time-consuming during the 2015 general meeting season. Further important findings show that all participants are in general critical with respect to additional regulation concerning corporate governance. A disagreement regarding the value of shareholder voting rights exists: Unlike institutional asset managers, pension funds only see little value in exercising shareholder voting rights.
The press release can be found here.
The presentation of the key results can be found here.
On November 18, 2014, SWIPRA presented the results of the Corporate Governance Survey 2014. The most important insights can be found in this presentation and are summarized in the press release.