Proxy Governance CEO Blasts Rival

New leadership at Proxy Governance yesterday unleashed what Global Proxy Watch reports was "a surprise, blistering" attack on rival RiskMetrics as part of a call for the wide scale reform of proxy voting.

Proxy Governance (PG) has announced its support for a proxy service industry code of ethics, a proposal issued for comment last month by Meagan Thompson-Mann, a visiting fellow at Yale's Millstein Center for Corporate Governance and Performance.

PG has also requested that the SEC investigate arguing that "the monopolistic power of RiskMetrics/ISS has resulted in it wielding SEC-like rule-making authority over corporate governance practices without appropriate checks and balances."

In June, PG named Michael Ryan, former program chief at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, chief executive. The Chamber, GPW notes, is "long known for its pugnacious sparring with investors over governance issues."

PG says it wants U.S. regulators to focus on "eliminating conflicts of interest that result from selling institutional investors corporate governance ratings on companies while at the same time selling consulting services to those same companies about how to improve their ratings."

GPW reports that there has been no word whether the SEC will respond. RiskMetrics declined.  to comment. Like PG, other U.S.-based advisers such as Glass Lewis & Co. and Egan-Jones do not consult to companies, nor do advisers outside of this country.