A new report from non-profit and non-partisan organization Majority Action has found that the world’s largest asset managers, BlackRock, Vanguard, State Street, and Fidelity, are all lagging behind their peers in their support of shareholder proposals which address racial equity issues.
The analysis, entitled “Equity in the Boardroom: How Asset Manager Voting Shaped Corporate Action on Racial Justice in 2022,” found that while Fidelity supported just one racial equity audit proposal, Vanguard supported none. BlackRock’s overall support for such proposals fell from 87.5% in 2021 to 52.6% in 2022, with State Street supporting the same percentage as BlackRock.
In a press release, Majority Action stated, “these four asset managers undermined dozens of critical shareholder proposals addressing racial equity from reaching majority support,” noting that 44 proposals would have received majority support if they were backed by the four either individually or collectively.
The advocacy group highlighted that this included racial equity audits at Chevron and Wells Fargo, political spending disclosure at AT&T, and workers’ rights proposals at The Kroger Company.
“As the largest shareholders in many of the world’s largest companies, the world’s largest asset managers have a responsibility to mitigate risks to client portfolios by holding boards accountable to addressing systemic racism,” Majority Action contended.