State Street Global Advisors has seen 63% growth in adoption of its proxy voting choice program by US ETF and mutual fund investors, and was the first asset manager to offer voting choice to investors in European funds
BOSTON, June 18, 2025–(BUSINESS WIRE)–State Street Global Advisors, the asset management business of State Street Corporation (NYSE: STT), has seen significant investor adoption of its proxy voting choice offering that empowers investors to direct how shares held in the funds they own are voted. Two years into the program, global investors can now choose from up to 11 non-SSGA voting policies that are available for more than 80% of the index equity assets eligible for the program, comprising approximately $1.9 trillion of assets under management. Adoption of the service has grown steadily, and a new study of the data now finds a 63% increase in usage (measured by assets under management) specifically by ETF and mutual fund investors in the US in the first quarter of 2025.
State Street Global Advisors’ proxy voting choice program was launched in 2023, originally for certain US and UK institutional funds. The program was expanded later that year to include a number of US ETFs and US mutual funds. Since that time, SSGA has expanded the program further, making its proxy voting choice program available for certain European funds. The State Street Global Advisors proxy voting choice platform offers investors a range of voting policies that will be applied to the voting of shares held in the eligible funds and segregated accounts they own. For the 2025 proxy voting season, SSGA added several new voting policy choices to the program, including voting policies available through Egan-Jones and Glass Lewis, as well as a Bowyer Research voting policy that is available to SSGA’s clients that are US government entities.
“State Street Global Advisors has long been a pioneer in providing investors access to the world’s markets,” said Yie-Hsin Hung, President and CEO of State Street Global Advisors. “Empowering them to choose how to vote the shares held in their funds is part of our commitment to deliver long-term value creation for our clients, and through the expansion of our program’s policies and regions, we’re delivering on that promise.”
Other key developments as of the end of Q1 2025 are:
More than 25,000 US ETF and mutual fund shareholders have opted into the program representing a 63% increase in adoption of SSGA’s program by US ETF and mutual fund investors.
Across all eligible funds, 60+ institutional clients have opted into the program, representing approximately 12% of SSGA’s eligible institutional assets under management.
146,000+ new investors are subscribed to the pilot program for certain Irish SPDR ETFs, the first such offering for retail funds in Europe.
More than 600 funds are now included in the program, including US ETFs, US mutual funds, UK Managed Pension funds, UK Authorised Unit Trust, UK Authorised Contractual Scheme funds, and certain Luxembourg SICAVs that have been added.
“It’s gratifying to see the data demonstrate the adoption of our innovative approach,” said Hung. “It’s a testament to how important participation in proxy voting is to our clients. Our goal is to give the greatest number of investors the most opportunities, in as many asset classes as possible, to choose how to vote the shares held in funds they are invested in.”
Additional details and information on the proxy voting policies offered to investors as part of this program can be found on the State Street Global Advisors website.
About State Street Global Advisors
For four decades, State Street Global Advisors has served the world’s governments, institutions, and financial advisors. With a rigorous, risk-aware approach built on research, analysis, and market-tested experience, we build from a breadth of index and active strategies to create cost-effective solutions. As pioneers in index and ETF investing, we are always inventing new ways to invest. As a result, we have become the world’s fourth-largest asset manager* with US $4.72 trillion† under our care.
*Pensions & Investments Research Center, as of 12/31/23. †This figure is presented as of December 31, 2024 and includes ETF AUM of $1,577.74 billion USD, of which approximately $82.19 billion USD in gold assets with respect to SPDR products for which State Street Global Advisors Funds Distributors, LLC (SSGA FD) acts solely as the marketing agent. SSGA FD and State Street Global Advisors are affiliated. Please note all AUM is unaudited.
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