Legal & General targets companies over gender balance

One of the largest investors in the UK stock market, Legal & General Investment Management, is stepping up efforts to improve the gender balance on corporate boards with a threat to target the chairs of companies where women are badly under-represented. LGIM, which manages £1tn of assets, has announced it will vote against the chairs of FTSE 350 companies at annual meetings in 2018, if their boards are not at least 25% female. It has begun voting against all-male boards in the US. This move by a major UK fund manager indicates how much more important gender balance has become to investors and will pile pressure on companies to tackle the underrepresentation of women in senior roles. Click here for the full FT article (£)