The Big Three haven’t filed any shareholder resolutions. “I almost think they’re willing to leave that to the other participants in the market that have already established a long-term willingness to do that,” says Hale. However, he adds, “I wouldn’t be shocked to see State Street potentially get involved in some gender diversity-related shareholder resolution, just because they seem to be really out front with this issue.”
He’s not sure how long it’ll take for other asset managers to catch the stewardship bug. Although assets are largely actively managed at Fidelity Investments and T. Rowe Price, “I certainly would think they’re getting institutional pressure so in that regard I wouldn’t be surprised to see them follow suit,” he says. Active managers tend to engage more in shorter-term issues that are tied to stock prices and quarter profits, he says, such as capital structure.
Hale thinks climate-risk advocacy, now focused on energy and utility companies, could expand to the transportation and industrial sectors. He also expects passive investors to direct stewardship efforts at two other critical issues—water usage (a growing risk in water-intensive industries) and data security.