National Bank of Canada | Public disclosure of non-confidential information, country-by-country reporting, compensation ratios and tax havens at National Bank of Canada

Status
Filed
AGM date
Previous AGM date
Proposal number
6
Resolution details
Company ticker
NA:CN
Lead filer
Mouvement d'éducation et de défense des actionnaires (MÉDAC)
Resolution ask
Report on or disclose
ESG theme
  • Governance
ESG sub-theme
  • Remuneration or pay
Type of vote
Shareholder proposal
Filer type
Shareholder
Company sector
Financials
Company HQ country
Canada
Resolved clause
It is proposed that the Bank annually disclose to the general public non-confidential information related to its country-by-country reporting, for the purposes of a detailed and meaningful calculation of compensation ratios broken down by territory and for the purposes of contributing to the fight against tax havens, particularly in terms of transparency
Supporting statement
Over the years, the Bank has received from MÉDAC—and now from Vancity—several shareholder proposals requesting calculation and disclosure of the compensation ratio. Despite the significant quantity of votes for these proposals, the Bank still does not disclose its total compensation ratio. The disclosure of such information has been compulsory in the United States for some time now and it is already provided by many companies in Canada. The compensation ratio should be published for all employees according to the standards (1) of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). However, public disclosure of non-confidential data in the “Country-by-Country Report” (Action 13 (2) of the OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework (3) on BEPS (4), an international initiative to which Canada adheres) would allow for the calculation of meaningful compensation ratios that would make it easier to interpret the total compensation ratio by offering a more complete description of the context. Furthermore, the disclosure of such non-confidential data to the general public, which is done in many other countries including in Europe, would be an exercise in transparency, goodwill and good faith that would directly support the fight against tax evasion, tax havens and other legislation of convenience. According to the Canadian data for the 2024 Edelman Barometer,1 59% of respondents believe that business leaders deliberately try to mislead people by disseminating information they know is false or widely exaggerated. There is a marked mistrust of traditional executives and company leaders. For all these reasons, the Bank should annually make public the non-confidential data from its country-by-country reporting. (1) https://www.edelman.ca/sites/g/files/aatuss376/files/2024-03/2024%20Edelman%20Trust%20Barometer_Canada%20Report_EN_0.pdf

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