BlackRock expands proxy voting to retail investors with new pilot

For the pilot, BlackRock is working with an unnamed ‘digital investor communications platform' in the UK to enable investors in select mutual funds to exercise choice in how their portion of eligible shareholder votes are cast - translating individual investor views into voting instructions. To expand beyond this trial will take "the combined efforts of policymakers, regulators, fund boards, asset managers and other participants in the proxy voting system", according to the firm. BlackRock is also extending the pool of eligible client assets that can participate in proxy voting, and e...