2013 Swiss Executive Pay Referendum

The 2013 Swiss executive pay initiative of 2013 was a successful federal popular initiative in Switzerland to control executive pay of companies listed on the stock market, and to increase shareholders' say in corporate governance. It was one of three questions put to the electorate in the March 2013 referendums. The vote took place on the 3 March 2013, and passed with a majority of 67.9%, with a 46% turnout. The initiative mandates the Federal Government to implement the provisions within one year, pending implementation of the final law.

The initiative partly reflected developments in the United States Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act 2010 §957, that banned brokers from voting on their clients' money, and the Stewardship Code 2010 in the United Kingdom, which placed a duty on financial intermediaries to disclose their voting policies and make use of voting power. It also reflected a long running debate in Germany, which had not yet been reformed, about the position of banks. In German, the title of the referendum is the , literally "Against Rip-off" and in French, the , literally "against abusive remuneration".

Background

Given the a number of corporate scandals, leading up to the global financial crisis beginning in 2007 a medium-size businessman and politician named Thomas Minder