Proxy advisory service Institutional Shareholder Services has released its 2013 policy updates for the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Asia.

Highlights and key 2013 policy changes for the U.S market relate to pay for performance evaluations (including peer group construction and realizable pay), board responsiveness to majority supported proposals, and pledging of company stock. A full review of the changes can be found here.

In October, ISS published a draft report of proposed changes, opening a public comment period that ended on Oct. 31.Among the proposals: strengthen its policy to hold directors accountable for failure to respond to a shareholder proposal that receives one year of a majority of votes cast; voting case-by-case” on proposals to link executive compensation to sustainability criteria; using a company's selected peers in addition to ISS' peer group of 14-24 companies when making "say on pay" recommendations; incorporating a comparison of realizable pay to grant date pay as part of the evaluation of pay-for-performance alignment; and adding pledging of shares as a factor that may lead to negative recommendations.

ISS will apply the updated policies to all publicly-traded company shareholder meetings as of February 1, 2013. More information on the updates and policy development process is available here. On Dec, 6, at 11 a.m. (EST), ISS will conduct a global policy review webcast; online registration is required.