AllianceBernstein, Barclays, AIM Faulted for Enabling Excessive Executive Pay

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.afscme.org/press/15903.cfm

For IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tuesday, June 05, 2007
AllianceBernstein, Barclays, AIM Faulted for Enabling Excessive Executive Pay

New report “Failed Fiduciaries” examines mutual fund proxy voting patterns on CEO pay

Washington, D.C. — AllianceBernstein, Barclays Global and AIM are named as “Pay Enablers,” who share responsibility for excessive executive pay, according to a new report examining 29 mutual fund families and their proxy voting patterns on CEO pay. The report, “Failed Fiduciaries: Mutual Fund Proxy Voting on CEO Compensation,” was released today by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), The Corporate Library and the Shareowner Education Group. The report identifies the mutual funds in 2006 that generally support management compensation proposals to increase pay and vote against shareholder proposals seeking to align pay with performance.

“These mutual funds are failing to protect the assets of their clients,” says Gerald W. McEntee, president of AFSCME. “CEOs should be paid for performance. Investors in these mutual funds should be outraged that their assets are being used to prop up undeserved CEO pay.”

“It concerns us when well known mutual funds abdicate their role as watchdogs for their clients’ money,” says McEntee. “This report shines a bright light on those mutual funds that are complicit in excessive payouts to CEOs.”

A December 2005 survey by consultant Winston Wyatt revealed that nine in 10 institutional investors believe the current executive compensation system overpays executives. Yet, the new report found that mutual fund proxy voting is largely not being utilized to curb pay abuse. The report discloses that the average level of support for management proposals on compensation issues in 2006 was 75.8%, up slightly from 75.6% in 2005. The average support for pay-related shareholder proposals included in the study was 46.5%. In 2006, the median CEO compensation among Standard & Poor’s companies rose by 23.8% over 2005 levels and median compensation at 1,048 companies tracked by The Corporate Library increased by 9.3%.

AllianceBernstein was the lowest ranked fund manager in the study - since it supported 94.8% of all management compensation proposals and only 31.1% of selected shareholder proposals. Barclays Global followed close behind, supporting shareholder proposals only 33.8% of the time while throwing its support to 94.7% of management proposals. AIM, the third-lowest-ranked fund family, supported 35.7% of shareholder proposals and 91.1% of management proposals.

FULL story at link

Omaha Steve is a proud AFSCME member btw.

[monktonman]

1. So the ceo's are gonna give the money back right??

When pigs fly?