Calvert Applauds Rule To Require Mutual Funds To Disclose Their Proxy Voting Practices.Business Editors BETHESDA, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 23, 2003 "This is a positive step in promoting mutual fund transparency and accountability, which we believe will help to restore investor confidence in our financial markets. In the long run, even the opponents will see it as a positive step. Mutual funds need to take a leadership role in making corporations more accountable to shareholders and other stakeholders Stakeholders All parties that have an interest, financial or otherwise, in a firm-stockholders, creditors, bondholders, employees, customers, management, the community, and the government. . We at Calvert are committed to this and will continue to use our influence to improve corporate governance Corporate Governance The relationship between all the stakeholders in a company. This includes the shareholders, directors, and management of a company, as defined by the corporate charter, bylaws, formal policy, and rule of law. and corporate responsibility," said Barbara J. Krumsiek, President and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. of Calvert, nation's largest family of socially responsible mutual funds after the Securities and Exchange Commission today voted in favor of requiring mutual funds to disclose their proxy voting Proxy voting is the delegation to another member of a voting body of that member's power to vote in his absence. It is essentially synonymous to delegated voting. Proxy voting is commonly used in corporations for voting by members or shareholders, because it allows members policies and votes. She added, "We firmly believe that this type of disclosure will allow investors to better judge the appropriateness of a manager's investment policies to make sure that they adequately reflect the shareholders' best interests and views." Calvert believes that investors do want to know how their proxies are being voted. A recent Harris Interactive Harris Interactive (NASDAQ: HPOL) is an American market research company that specializes in public opinion research using both telephone and surveys on online panels. The company is the product of a 1996 merger between the Gordon S. Black Company and Louis Harris & Associates. survey commissioned by Calvert revealed that nearly two-thirds of investors would like to see more disclosure about their investments. The firm began its proxy voting policies and voting record available on www.calvert.com over two years ago. About Calvert Calvert is one of the largest mutual fund complexes in the Washington D.C. area with approximately $8.6 billion in assets under management Assets Under Management (AUM) is a term used by financial services companies in the mutual fund and money management or investment management business to gauge how much money they are managing. . Best known for its family of socially responsible mutual funds, Calvert offers thirty funds that allow individual and institutional investors to pursue a broad range of investment objectives within a single fund family. Calvert launched the Calvert Social Index The Calvert Social Index is a stock market index created by the Calvert Group as a benchmark of large companies that are considered socially responsible or ethical. It currently consists of 468 companies, weighted by market capitalization, selected from approximately 1,000 of the (TM), a benchmark for measuring the performance of large, U.S.-based socially responsible companies. Calvert also has an extensive lineup of tax-free and taxable fixed income investments. For more information on Calvert, click on www.calvert.com. |
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