Corporate Governance (AO) | Changing shareholder rights in Europe: expert session feedback

Research evidence excerpt

Corporate Governance (AO) | Changing shareholder rights in Europe: expert session feedback

Marketing event feedback

09 July 2026

Anastassios Adamopoulos

Sustainability Analyst

+44 207 621 5187Corporate Governance

Changing shareholder rights in Europe: expert session feedback

Key points:

We hosted Laith Cahill, head of stewardship research at the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC), for an expert

session on the upcoming revision of the EU Shareholder Rights Directive (SRD).

The session, held on 8 July, focused on what needs to change in the SRD while highlighting the challenges that investors in

Europe still face, with fragmentation, voting and collaborative engagement among the identified issues.

The EU's simplification push that has slashed disclosure requirements is elevating the significance of investor engagement. The

SRD enshrines the minimum obligations companies, investors, and proxy advisers must meet in this process.

A replay of our session will be available on our Discovery platform soon.

A different approach to EU shareholder rights reform

The SRD is the most important legislation prescribing an EU-wide baseline of shareholder protection and responsibilities,

affecting issuers, the investment chain and the advisers that operate between them. It covers numerous aspects, ranging from

voting facilitation and remuneration disclosure by companies to engagement policy and investment strategy development by

institutional investors.

Having first been adopted in 2007 and then reformed in 2017 (SRD II), it is now set to undergo another review, with the European

Commission expected to table its proposal in Q4 2026. A public consultation was held between February and May 2026.

The EU's approach to shareholder rights is changing.