Institutional Shareholder Services to Open its Platform to SelectResearch and Data Providers

Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (ISS), a leading provider of corporate governance solutions to the global financial community, today announced that it opened its ProxyExchange TM platform to third party research and data providers in an effort to offer institutional clients a single gateway to access multiple sources of governance research and information.

"Increasingly, institutional investors are using multiple informational inputs into their corporate governance, proxy voting and investment decision-making processes," said Stephen Harvey, Head of the ISS Governance Business. "Our clients have expressed a strong desire to seamlessly access all of their needed governance content through a single platform. By leveraging our global scope and advanced technology, ISS is able to seamlessly deliver desired content from multiple providers through its ProxyExchange TM platform."

Today, ISS began distributing executive compensation analysis from Farient Information Services, an independent leading provider of pay and performance alignment research and ratings. Later this month, proxy research and voting recommendations from UK-based PIRC (Pensions Investment Research Consultants, Ltd.) and from Germany´s IVOX, both independent research providers, will be made available to their subscribers through ISS´ platform.

"Farient has developed a reputation for leadership in executive compensation analysis through the view that driving convergence between investors and corporations on pay and performance alignment is the best approach for all involved," said Robin Ferracone, Chief Executive Officer of Farient Advisors. "Through our distribution arrangement with ISS, investors will be able to conveniently access Farient´s Performance Alignment Reports (PARs), which offer an alternative, independent point of view to proxy advisor pay for performance research and recommendations."

"PIRC has been a champion for good corporate governance for over 25 years," said Alan MacDougall, Managing Director of PIRC Ltd. "By distributing our research through the ISS platform, we hope that more investors may consider our analysis of companies, to inform their exercise of their stewardship responsibilities. We are very happy to be working with ISS to provide investors with a choice of governance research."

This transformational step toward offering research choice and information access through a single gateway is unprecedented in the proxy advisory industry. Through ISS´ ProxyExchange platform, ISS will be in a position to help enhance the communication between governance and investment professionals across its client base of asset managers, pension funds and hedge funds.

"ISS believes in transparency and openness, and our clients appreciate the access to other points of view," said Gary Retelny, President of ISS. "We are committed to offering added choice and convenience over time to our clients globally and will be expanding the network of research and data providers accessible through our gateway."

About ISS

ISS, founded in 1985 as Institutional Shareholder Services Inc., is the world´s leading provider of proxy advisory and corporate governance solutions to financial market participants. ISS´ services include objective proxy research and analysis, end-to-end proxy voting and distribution solutions, turnkey securities class-action claims management, and reliable governance data and modeling tools. More than 1,700 clients rely on ISS´ expertise to help them make informed corporate governance decisions. ISS is located in financial centers worldwide and is a subsidiary of MSCI Inc., a leading provider of investment decision support tools to investors globally. For more information, please visit www.issgovernance.com.

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