BlackRock opens proxy voting rights to investors

BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, said that starting in 2022, large institutional investors in its index portfolios will have the option to vote themselves on a range of shareholder proposals. The scale of assets under management involved in this amounted to 2 trillion US dollars! Judging from the size and influence of BlackRock, this is the beginning of the global asset management industry's deep participation and decentralization of power on social issues. This so-called proxy voting system will open new opportunities for the future development of ESG.

Opening proxy voting to $2 trillion investors is the culmination of a year-long effort by BlackRock: to build the technology platform that enables proxy voting, which requires synchronizing parts of the shareholder and make sure investors can deliver their ballots on time. BlackRock is also liberalizing on what issues investors can vote on: It can decide to vote only on companies with strong negative externalities, such as oil and gas companies, gun makers, etc., or it can choose to vote on all companies. Investors can vote by their own rules or values, or with proxy advisors.

Industry insiders pointed out that this is a good start. In addition to giving capital providers more voting rights, any shareholding institution may change the status quo by speaking up, and they can vote according to their own wishes on each voting item." 

"Yes" or "No", which can truly reflect the investor's own position.