Director-Shareholder Engagement Is Undergoing a Fundamental Shift

PwC's Governance Insights Center reports that regulatory changes, market structure shifts, and evolving investor behavior since 2025 have made engagement more complex and increasingly direct between directors and shareholders. Asset managers' proxy voting is fragmenting across teams, client-directed programs, and technology-enabled decision-making, meaning boards can no longer treat engagement as a management-only, IR-led function. For SEA scale-up boards preparing for institutional investors, this signals the need for directors themselves to engage credibly and prepare for more direct scrutiny.