Proxy adviser ISS urges vote against Westpac director over tenure at ASX
Proxy adviser Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) has recommended that investors in Australia's Westpac 
WBC vote against the re-election of director Peter Nash due to his history at the Australian Securities Exchange 
ASX.
Nash was appointed as an independent non-executive director of Westpac in 2018 and he is the chairman of the bank's audit committee
He served on the ASX board for six years until September 2025 and chaired its audit and supervision committee
He was a partner with KPMG from 1993 until September 2017
The ASX is under growing scrutiny from regulators over its governance and ability to manage market infrastructure, following a string of outages and a failure to replace its decades-old clearing and settlement platform known as CHESS
"Concerns are identified under ISS policy regarding failures of governance, board and risk oversight and fiduciary duties identified at ASX Limited where Mr Nash had served as a long-tenured director," ISS said in its report.
ISS referred to Australia's corporate regulator's suit against the ASX for allegedly misleading statements over the CHESS replacement project in 2022. ASIC said there was a "collective failure by the ASX board and senior executives at the time."
ISS added that it had corporate governance concerns over Nash’s history with KPMG, as the accounting firm has been Westpac’s auditor since 2024
Westpac's annual general meeting will be held on December 11
Westpac did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters