Valley Forge-based Vanguard, one of the world’s leading investment management companies, recently added 17 new investment funds to Vanguard Investor Choice, its proxy voting choice program.
Vanguard Investor Choice allows investors, their advisers, 529 plans and retirement plan sponsors to voice their thoughts on important shareholder matters at portfolio companies held in participating Vanguard funds. It offers voting policy options that determine how investors’ proportionate shares are voted.
“Vanguard Investor Choice continues to help improve the corporate governance ecosystem by ensuring the voices of more investors can be heard,” John Galloway, Vanguard global head of investor engagement, said. “We are proud to continue to pioneer proxy voting choice for index fund investors, empowering them to more directly express their proxy voting preferences for their proportionate share of the funds.”
The 17 new participating funds brings the number of Vanguard Investor Choice funds to 32. The new funds add approximately 2 million new eligible investors and more than $200 billion in assets, bringing the total number of eligible investors, as of Dec. 31, to 22 million and eligible assets to more than $3.6 trillion.
Policy selections for investors holding one or more Vanguard funds automatically will be applied as additional funds are added to the program.