Credit Suisse, Nestlé et UBS have accepted to go beyond their legal Swiss requirements and allow shareholders to vote on say-on-pay resolutions following a campaign by Ethos, the Geneva-based foundation which looks after CHF2.3bn (€1.4bn) in pension assets run on a socially responsible basis, and eight other Swiss Pension Funds. UBS has committed to put its remuneration programme for 2009 to a vote, while Credit Suisse and Nestlé will both ballot on their 2008 remuneration reports. The votes will be advisory as Swiss company law does not permit a binding vote. Ethos said it considered an advisory vote would still allow investors to send a strong signal to management with regard to remuneration. In December, Ethos took its campaign international, inviting overseas shareholders to support it in order to gather “maximum endorsement” from investors with large stakes in the targeted Swiss companies. Image: responsible-investor.com.

Source: Responsible Investor