Lady Godiva got away with it – with a bit of chutzpah, so could you!
I never felt much admiration for the people of Coventry who pretended that Queen Godiva riding naked through their streets was nothing to be surprised by. Us pension people clearly have the same mass-inattentional blindness to polysyllabic incomprehensibility
Whoever issued the press release, we are all behaving like we all know what to make of the headline
“disaggregated voting outcomes disclosure for companies with dual-class share structures”
What does it mean? What is “disaggregated”, what’s the outcome of voters and what should companies be doing with dual-class share structures.
and so on and so on…
I’ve read a few of these press releases independently researched versions of this story and unbelievably they’ve all got the same as Railpen who’s Caroline Escott is behind it.
Here is the version from Railpen. See if you can make sense of it.
The Governance for Growth Investor Campaign (GGIC), a campaign made up of some of the UK’s largest pension schemes and supported by multi-trillion UK and international investor bodies, today announces the establishment of a new industry working group with the International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN) to develop guidance on disaggregated voting outcomes disclosure for companies with dual-class share structures (DCSS).
Asset owners were pleased that the FCA, in its PS24/6 Policy Statement (p. 55) announcing the rule changes, recognised the potential benefits of disaggregated, or class-by-class, vote disclosures when launching its new rules. Class-by-class vote disclosure entails companies with multiple classes of shares being required to separately disclose vote tallies for each class, providing better visibility to both investors and to the boards and management of companies, as to the preferences of both insider and independent shareholders. The FCA said it would “welcome a market-led working group” to consider the costs and benefits of such disclosure, including a standardised methodology for the tabulation of votes.
Recognising the benefits of such disclosures to the entire capital markets ecosystem – which aligns with their shared focus on supporting more effective capital markets – the GGIC and ICGN have today launched this cross-industry working group. The working group will be UK-focused, but aims to provide guidance that is globally relevant, to enable use of the guidance in a wide range of capital markets.
The working group will bring together participants from across the investment chain, including representatives from GGIC, ICGN, the Council of Institutional Investors (CII), ICEV, the Chartered Governance Institute UK & Ireland (CGI), Florida State Board of Administration, Railpen and Nest. The Investor and Issuer Forum will also join as an observer. The group will be chaired by Caroline Escott, Chair of the GGIC and Head of Investment Stewardship & Co-Head of Sustainable Ownership at Railpen, with Jen Sisson, CEO of the ICGN serving as Vice-Chair. The group is intentionally focused and practitioner-led, and it will engage in wider market consultation later in 2026 on the draft guidance to ensure it is as useful and accessible as possible for companies and investors alike.
Caroline Escott, Chair of the GGIC, commented: “Effective disclosure underpins the confidence and trust on which healthy capital markets depend. By convening this working group, we are taking a step towards developing clear, globally relevant guidance that will be of use to both companies and investors. Disaggregated vote disclosure will support better discussions between firms and their shareholders, strengthen market discipline, and ultimately contribute to sustainable long-term growth in the interests of companies, investors and everyday savers.”
Jen Sisson, CEO of the ICGN, said: “It is hugely encouraging to see all parts of the investment chain coming together to deliver a practical market-led solution on such an important issue. Transparent disclosure of dual class voting outcomes is critical to investor confidence and market integrity, and this new template has the potential to become a valuable global resource for improving transparency, accountability and trust across capital markets.”
Today’s announcement marks a further step in the GGIC’s ongoing engagement with policymakers and market participants. It follows a period of continued momentum, including the launch of its 2026 policy priorities in December 2025, the expansion of the campaign’s membership and supporter base in May 2026 , and comes ahead of the keenly anticipated Modernisation of Corporate Reporting consultation.
The GGIC will continue to engage constructively with this consultation process, highlighting the role that clear disclosure, strong governance frameworks, and effective investor-company dialogue play in supporting resilient companies, well-functioning capital markets, and long-term economic growth.
I am totally confused by this and would be grateful to anyone who can translate it into a language which I can understand.
Dual or multiple class structures break the usual one share, one vote principle and let insiders keep control without bearing most of the economic risk. Critics say that can weaken accountability, entrench founders (eg Musk in some of his companies) or managers, and leave ordinary shareholders with too little influence.
But it shouldn’t need a “working party” to tell us how each shareholder class voted, separately.