Asset-Manager Voting Disclosure Record

PROBLEM: BlackRock's Investment Stewardship team — about 70 analysts — votes shares on behalf of clients at roughly 16,000 shareholder meetings a year, and voted on 157,000 individual ballot items in 2022 alone (firm's Investment Stewardship Annual Report). Those votes decide board elections, executive pay, mergers and shareholder proposals, yet the reasoning behind individual votes is published only in aggregate. Voting Choice, launched in October 2021, lets eligible index clients direct their own votes — but most eligible assets have not taken it up, so the vote stays with the stewardship team.

SOLUTION: An asset-manager voting disclosure record: every proxy vote logged with the ballot item, the vote cast, the guideline applied, and whether the client voted directly or delegated — so concentrated voting power is visible vote by vote, not as an annual total.

EVIDENCE BASIS: DOCUMENTED — BlackRock Investment Stewardship Annual Report (157,000 ballot items voted in 2022); ~70 analysts; ~16,000 meetings a year; Voting Choice launched October 2021 (14 voting policies; Egan-Jones added as a third policy provider in 2024).