Early next year, Malvern-based Vanguard is planning to roll out a pilot program that will test giving its retail investors more voting power, writes Silla Brush for Bloomberg. 

The investment giant will give individual investors in some of its equity index funds more say over how their shares are voted instead of making decisions exclusively on its own. 

The pilot program “will give our investors-owners the chance to express their preferences for how the underlying shares of their equity index holdings are voted,” said Anne Robinson, Vanguard’s general counsel. 

The trial will offer investors several voting options. These will include the option to follow company management recommendations, opt out of voting, or choose to rely on third-party guidance. 

The stewardship team at Vanguard currently helps oversee voting policies for around 30 million investors. 

“Our clients have diverse perspectives, and a growing number would like the option to weigh in on how their index funds vote on important proxy questions at the companies held in the funds,” said Vanguard. 

Read more about Vanguard in Bloomberg.