Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM) has pledged to punish all company chairs who also hold the chief executive role in a bold move that will see it take on the bosses of BlackRock, JPMorgan, Facebook and hundreds more globally. LGIM, one of the top 20 largest investment companies in the world, said it will vote against the re-election of all combined chair/CEOs from this year. Combined chair/CEOs can be found on 47 percent of S&P 500 boards, 48 percent of Spain’s largest companies and more than half the CAC 40 companies in France. The issue of splitting the combined roles has risen up the agenda in recent years, often linked to scandals at businesses such as Well Fargo and Boeing. Sacha Sadan, director of investment stewardship at LGIM, said the separation of the roles “provides a better balance of authority and responsibility, that aligns with the best long-term interests of companies and investors”. LGIM’s decision to vote against chair/CEOs is the latest sign of UK asset managers taking their strong focus on corporate governance to other markets.

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Financial Times