Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM) is to vote against Metro Bank’s board chairman for the second consecutive year.
The London based asset manager expressed in a statement that it has “long standing concerns” regarding the high street bank.
Issues it raised through its voting instructions included lack of independent directors on the board, poor gender diversity, and failure by the bank to manage conflicts of interest.
LGIM, the UK’s largest fund manager with £1 trillion (€1.1 trillion) in assets under management, decided to make its voting intentions known ahead of Metro Bank’s annual general meeting (AGM) to “highlight and share these issues with other investors”.
It highlighted that there are also “continuing concerns following the recent announcements on accounting errors and the significant share price underperformance.”
“As a long term investor of our clients’ assets, we hope that in sharing our voting intentions early, and that following the results of the AGM, this will help encourage Metro Bank to strengthen their governance structures,” said Sacha Sadan, LGIM’s director of corporate governance.
In a response to pressure from proxy advisers and investors, including LGIM, Metro Bank subsequently cut ties with the architectural firm owned by the chairman’s wife, the Financial Times reported.
Metro Bank was not available for comment. The AGM is due to take place on May 21 in London.
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