Geneva-based activist shareholder Ethos said Friday insurers Swiss Reinsurance Co. and Zurich Financial Services AG have agreed to arrange advisory polls of shareholders on the issue of executive pay and bonuses.
Zurich Financial and Swiss Re have accepted to submit their remuneration proposals, or salaries paid out last year, to an advisory vote of shareholders at their 2010 annual general meetings, Ethos said.
Zurich Financial will now let shareholders vote on its remuneration system for its executives and directors of the board, which includes details on bonuses, severance packages and performance-driven parts of the salary, Ethos Executive Director Dominique Biedermann said.
By contrast, Swiss Re will let shareholders have a say on salaries paid out in the previous year.
Ethos and eight other pension funds have urged several Swiss companies including Novartis AG (NVS) and Holcim Ltd to introduce such non-binding votes.
Binding votes aren’t currently possible under Swiss law.
