At the annual general meeting of UBS to be held on 2 May 2019, Ethos recommends to oppose all proposals related to the remuneration of the board of directors and the executive management. Ethos considers that the CHF 73.3 million requested for the 2018 bonus of the 13 members of the executive management is excessive in light of the bad performance of the bank’s share price in 2018.
At the Annual General Meeting to be held on 26 April 2019, Ethos recommends to oppose all proposals related to the remuneration of the board of directors and the executive management of Credit Suisse. The proposed increase in the executive management’s variable remuneration is excessive in light of the bank’s financial results.
Since the entry into force of the Ordinance against excessive remuneration (the Minder initiative), the different votes on board and executive remuneration are the proposals most contested by the shareholders, which is reflected in a stabilisation of overall remuneration in SPI companies and a slight decrease in the largest listed companies.
The annual general meetings of Ethos Foundation and the company Ethos Services took place today in Fribourg. All the agenda items were approved. Rudolf Rechsteiner was elected unanimously to the chairmanship of Ethos Foundation and Beth Krasna unanimously to the chairmanship of Ethos Services. They succeed Dominique Biedermann who did not stand for re-election after 21 years of uninterrupted commitment to the development of Ethos.
Ethos is very satisfied that an overall agreement has been signed between the board of directors of Sika, the Burkard family and Saint-Gobain to the benefit of all parties concerned and that safeguards the independence of the company. As an accessory party alongside the board of directors in the legal procedure opposing the company to the Burkard family, Ethos Foundation has always supported the efforts to maintain the independence of Sika. Ethos welcomes the decision of the board of directors to call an extraordinary general meeting on the 11th of June 2018 that will establish the equal treatment of all shareholders.
Ethos calls on investors to vote FOR the shareholder proposal submitted by the Dutch shareholder association "Follow this" at the Annual General Meeting of Royal Dutch Shell on 22 May 2018 (agenda item 19). The shareholder proposal calls on Shell to set targets to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that are compatible with the objectives of the Paris Agreement to limit global warming to a maximum of 2 degrees Celsius compared to the pre-industrial era. The board of directors has advised its shareholders to vote against the resolution on the grounds of the resolution not being in the best interests of the company and its shareholders.
Ethos CEO Vincent Kaufmann is delivering a statement at the Credit Suisse annual general meeting today recommending that shareholders vote against the board’s proposals regarding board and executive remuneration and against the re-election of the chairman of the board. Ethos also asks that the board re-inforces its corporate social responsibility.
Ethos will make a statement at today’s annual general meeting of Nestlé in the context of the initiative “Climate Action 100+” urging the board to take additional measures in terms of the risks related to climate change. Ethos is also asking for the board to take the necessary steps to reduce current tensions with certain stakeholders of the company.
Ethos Foundation publishes the 17th edition of its proxy voting guidelines and corporate governance principles. The 2018 edition specifies the expectations of Ethos for approval of the remuneration reports of listed companies. In particular, Ethos expects companies to increase transparency as to the variable remunerations which were paid out upon vesting of the grants at the end of the performance period.