ISS governance scoring - updated scoring system

Corporate governance firm ISS announced last month updates to QuickScore 3.0, its governance scoring system for institutional investors.  Tools such as QuickScore are designed to help investors measure and track governance score ratings across portfolio investors on a global basis. 

 ISS’s Quickscore 3.0 continues to weigh heavily on its so-called broad pillars, including board structure, compensation/remuneration, shareholder rights, and audit/risk oversight.  The new update provides the ability to drill down on underlying data to make relative value comparisons across issuers. 

The new version expands coverage to 4,500 companies in 30 markets with higher degrees of coverage in European companies in the STOXX 600 index plus firms located in developing markets in Russia, Brazil, and South Africa.  In terms of depth, QuickScore 3.0 now includes consideration for a controlling shareholder, sunset provisions for unequal voting rights, gender diversity on the board, and the presence of any regulatory investigations or penalties, an increasing issue notably for financial institutions.  See www.issgovernance.com for more information on this important development.