Firms with Trillions of Dollars of Worker
Pension Money under Management Routinely
Worst Money Management Firms include:
Grade: F
- BNP Paribas Asset
- Guggenheim Funds
- Mutual of America Funds
- Morgan Stanley Funds
Best Money Management Firms include:
Grade: A
- Dimensional Investment Funds
- T Rowe Price Funds
- Vanguard Funds
WASHINGTON, May 16, 2024
/PRNewswire/ -- A new report by the Committee to Unleash Prosperity
(CTUP) on the intersection of proxy voting and ESG/DEI issues comes
three major conclusions:
- Many of America's major money management firms are still
consistently voting for ESG/DEI shareholder resolutions that are
pursued by left-wing pressure groups and shareholder activists.
These votes are a violation of their fiduciary duty to their
clients.
- The general trend since 2022 is AWAY from ESG. The study finds
that major money managers were about 25 to 30% less likely to vote
for hostile ESG resolutions in 2023 than they were in 2022. But the
study also finds that about half the time these companies continue
to support these ESG resolutions.
- The worst actors of all are the two major proxy voting advisory
firms – ISS and Glass-Lewis. These advisory firms – which are
employed by most major money managers – almost always recommend
"yes" votes on the most egregious ESG resolutions. ISS received an
implied grade of F for their recommendations and Glass Lewis an
implied grade of D.
CTUP graded more than 600 investment firms, based on their level
of support for 50 extreme shareholder proposals, focused on
objectives such as mandating divestment from oil and gas firms,
imposing hiring quotas based on race/ethnicity and gender, and
conducting internal "racial equity" audits. The average grade
earned by the 40 largest firms was a C. More than a dozen of these
firms received an F.
The following fund families earned an F:
- ProShares Funds
- Principal Funds
- Thrivent Funds
- Touchstone Funds
- Eaton Vance Funds
- Rydex Variable Funds
- Flex Funds
- ProFunds
- Columbia Funds
- Guggenheim Funds
- Direxion Funds
- Thompson, Siegel & Walmsley
- Gotham Funds
- Mutual of America Funds
- Meeder Funds
- Morgan Stanley Funds
- TD Asset Management
- Lombard Odier Investment
- Managers
- Manulife Investment Management
- Danica Pension
- Victory Funds
- DWS Funds
- AQR Funds
- BNP Paribas Asset Management
- Sparinvest
- Swisscanto
This report advocates that firms adopt a policy of rejecting ESG
resolutions because these policies interfere with the ability of
funds to maximize their returns to their clients – and thus
interfere with the fiduciary responsibility of money managers.
The new report follows a landmark CTUP report released last year
that showed most large investment firms – from State Street to
BlackRock to JP Morgan to Franklin
Templeton – were routinely voting in favor of even the most
radical and hostile resolutions. By doing so, they were putting
political considerations over the financial interests of tens of
millions of Americans whose pensions and other retirement funds
they managed.
"Investors pay the price for this ideologically driven approach
to investing – in the form of having their votes harvested in favor
of policies that often diminish the performance of the funds
holding their savings, "said Committee to Unleash Prosperity
co-founder Stephen
Moore. "The purpose of this report is to
identify which major investment houses are the most – and least –
guilty of putting politics ahead of their client's interests and
help persuade investors to withdraw their money from these funds as
well as prompt fund management companies to stop letting
left-leaning ideology drive their investment decisions."
Click here to read the full report.
Click here to read the WSJ Editorial Board
The Committee to Unleash Prosperity is dedicated to educating
policy makers and the public about policies to maximize economic
growth and prosperity in America and around the world. For more
information: www.committeetounleashprosperity.com
CONTACT: Alexandra Preate
917-748-6537 cell
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SOURCE Committee to Unleash Prosperity