HESTA chief executive Debby Blakey said the board's response to its letter would influence its voting decision at next month's annual general meeting.Credit:Wayne Taylor
HESTA,an industry super fund that represents health and community service workers,has about $500 million in shares in the bank.
Aftertwo proxy advisers this week recommended investors vote against long-standing director Peter Marriott at next month's annual general meeting,HESTA said it had not yet determined how it would vote its shares in the bank,including on the re-election of directors.
However,the fund's chief executive,Debby Blakey,said how Westpac's board responded to the super fund's request for a more detailed plan would influence its voting decisions.
“We have various channels,one of them is engaging directly,obviously,with the board and with management,and the other is clearly the way we vote. We will give careful consideration to how we vote at the upcoming AGM because that’s a very important way for us to send a strong message of where our concerns sit,” she said.
“I feel as a shareholder I want to give the Westpac board an opportunity to respond to us,so that we can understand how they are going to address these cultural issues,how they are going to strengthen governance,” Ms Blakey said. “Obviously we will feed that response into the decision as to how we will vote.”
Ms Blakey did not name directors but said the fund was “particularly concerned” about directors with longer tenure,and those with responsibility for risk oversight.