Aflac Moves Say on Pay Voting up to 2008

Aflac Inc.’s board has approved a resolution that moves the adoption of Say on Pay up from 2009 to 2008.  The resolution will give the company’s shareholders an opportunity to cast a non-binding advisory vote on the company’s pay-for-performance compensation of the top five named executive officers.

In February, the company became the first in the United States to adopt a resolution giving shareholders this type of advisory vote on compensation.  At the time, Aflac indicated the first advisory vote would take place in 2009  because it is the first year that executive compensation tables in the proxy statement will contain three years of data reflecting the Security and Exchange Commission’s new compensation disclosure requirements.

After evaluating Aflac’s compensation disclosures in the 2007 proxy statement, though, the board decided that two years of comparable compensation data would be adequate for shareholders to make an informed vote, prompting the board to move the timing of the first say-on-pay up one year.

“We believe that our shareholders have embraced expanded disclosure on executive compensation and it gives them the information they need to make an informed decision n as they weigh pay versus performance,” Dan Amos, Aflac chairman and CEO, said in a statement.  “Aflac has a long history of generating strong returns for its shareholders and we remain committed to being transparent and responsive to our owners.”