Proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) has urged investors to vote against the re-election of Swiss Re Chair Sergio Ermotti, due to a what it sees as a lack of diversity at the board level, according to reports from the Financial Times.
In a new report, ISS criticised the reinsurer for failing to meet the industry benchmark of having at least 30% of its board made up by women.
Currently, women comprise only 23% of Swiss Re’s board.
ISS is therefore advising investors to vote against the board’s proposal to re-elect Ermotti at next month’s AGM.
Earlier this month, Swiss Re committed to upping female representation on its board to 30% by next year’s AGM, and has since stressed that gender diversity is “of utmost importance for the composition of the board of directors.”
“At Swiss Re, we embrace and build diversity, equity and inclusion, bringing together the best of multiple generations, cultures, skillsets and thinking ,” the reinsurer said in response to ISS’s report.
“We strongly believe that Mr Ermotti’s measured approach to succession planning and assuring gender diversity is in the best interests of shareholders and Swiss Re,” the reinsurer said in response to ISS’s report.
For its part, ISS said this commitment by Swiss Re “does not provide any further information concerning the reasons for non-compliance at this meeting, and we note that the threshold has not been met in the past years either”
