2008-2009 Policy Survey

Summary of Results

2008-2009 RiskMetrics Group Policy Survey

Summary of Results

RiskMetrics Group has surveyed its institutional investor clients for the past five years, inviting them to weigh in on critical and emerging corporate governance policy issues. Clients were invited to provide input and feedback via an online survey in July and August, 2008, after the end of the U.S. proxy season. The survey contained policy questions on Board, Compensation, Audit, Corporate Responsibility and other corporate governance topics.

Institutional investors could participate in any of five regional surveys:

• United States
• Canada and Latin America
• United Kingdom
• Europe, comprising France, Germany, Ireland, Portugal, The Netherlands, Scandinavia (Sweden, Norway) and Russia.
• Asia-Pacific, comprising Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Japan

Institutional investors were also invited to participate in a general international survey which sought investor opinion on issues that apply to multiple markets as well as general principles in treating governance issues in an increasingly global investment environment.

For the first time, corporate issuers were invited this year to participate in a parallel version of the United States policy survey. Invitations were sent to a broad range of issuers in the United States – contacts were drawn from standard industry databases of corporate governance and investor relations staff at U.S. corporations. The issuer survey contained close to identical versions of the questions in the institutional survey that would be applicable to corporate issuers.

All the survey instruments are available through the RiskMetrics Group Policy gateway at www.riskmetrics.com/policy/

Over 700 total responses were received for the surveys. On the institutional side, 317 institutional investor responses were submitted, representing a total of 200 unique institutions (approximately 12% of RiskMetrics' governance clients). On the corporate side, 390 corporate issuer responses were received.

The institutional respondent profile is close to the overall profile of RiskMetrics' governance client base, with slightly over half being investment managers or mutual fund managers, and the balance divided between pension funds and endowments, insurance companies, banks and investor groups. The corporate responses represented a broad range of issuers across the market capitalization and industry sector spectrums.