Hermes Criticises Schroders’ Corporate Governance Breach

Hermes has broken with in-house convention and spoken out against Schroders’ “exceptional” breach of corporate governance principle in promoting former chief executive Michael Dobson to the role of chairman. It is also voting against the senior independent director who led the chair succession process, Lord Howard of Penrith. “It’s very rare for us to go out in public and declare how we vote,” Hans-Christoph Hirt, executive director at Hermes EOS, told Fund Strategy. “We thought it was such an exceptional principle here that is being breached we decided to go out and explain our voting decision.” A statement issued by Hermes confirmed the asset manager had engaged with Schroders in the lead up to the vote, taking place today at the group’s AGM. Hirt would not provide further detail about the engagement in order not to breach the privacy of the discussions.