Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS)
Proxy advisory and governance data firm that tells big investors how to vote.
On the record
Checkpoint: 2026 proxy season client retention results show whether more asset managers follow JPMorgan in-house
The call
ISS still dominates proxy advice with Glass Lewis, but the first major client just built its own AI replacement and regulators are circling the model that protected it.
ISS is a company that tells big investors how to vote on company decisions, and it has controlled most of that market for decades by keeping detailed voting records and being trusted by regulators. But it is now hard to defend because JPMorgan built its own AI tool to do the same job in January 2026, and the government is investigating whether ISS has too much power. The main question is whether other big investment firms will follow JPMorgan and drop ISS for their own AI tools during the upcoming 2026 voting season, which would shrink ISS's business.
Why
01
AI pressure: JPMorgan's in-house Proxy IQ AI tool. JPMorgan built its own AI to read filings and vote proxies, dropping ISS entirely for its $4T+ book in January 2026. Could AI do the core job? Yes, likely.
02
Bigger players: BlackRock, Vanguard, or State Street building similar in-house AI voting tools. Other mega asset managers with the scale and data to copy JPMorgan's in-house model are watching the 2026 proxy season closely. Could a giant copy it? No, they are blocked.
03
What protects it. Fiduciary cover: most mid-size funds still want a named third party to blame if a vote goes wrong, plus 30+ years of ISS voting data and workflow ties.
What would change this call
Whether BlackRock, Vanguard, or State Street announce in-house AI proxy tools during 2026 season. Would show JPMorgan's defection is a trend, not a one-off, eroding ISS's client base.
SEC finalizes proxy-adviser registration rule following Executive Order 14366. Would show regulators are formally weakening ISS's fiduciary-cover advantage.
ISS ships and clients adopt a named AI-enabled governance product in 2026. Would show ISS can retain clients by matching in-house AI rather than losing them.
SEC finalizes proxy-adviser registration rule following Executive Order 14366. Would show regulators are formally weakening ISS's fiduciary-cover advantage.
ISS ships and clients adopt a named AI-enabled governance product in 2026. Would show ISS can retain clients by matching in-house AI rather than losing them.
Key numbers
- ISS and Glass Lewis hold 90%+ of US proxy advice market
- JPMorgan (>$4T AUM) dropped ISS for in-house AI
- Deutsche Borse paid EUR1.1B for final 20% of ISS STOXX
Named risks
- Additional major asset managers follow JPMorgan to in-house AI during 2026 proxy season.
- SEC implements binding Investment Adviser registration rule per Executive Order 14366.
- FTC antitrust probe or state AG suits (Texas, Florida, Missouri) result in enforcement action or forced business model changes.
- New CEO transition (Aug 3, 2026) disrupts strategic continuity during multiple simultaneous crises.
- Fiduciary-cover value proposition erodes as AI tools demonstrate comparable or better shareholder-support correlation.
Rivals, as read in July 2026
| Rival | Direction | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| JPMorgan (in-house Proxy IQ AI tool) | losing to | JPMorgan, over $4T AUM, dropped ISS entirely for in-house AI voting tool, January 2026 |
| Glass Lewis | contesting | Duopoly holding 90%+ US market share as of Dec 2025, but Glass Lewis is also pulling back on benchmark recommendations for 2027 |
| In-house AI tools at large asset managers (BlackRock, Vanguard, State Street) | gaining on | JPMorgan's move framed industry-wide as a harbinger for 2026 proxy season defections |
| MSCI | contesting | Former ISS owner, competes on ESG ratings, indices, and governance data adjacents |
Questions people ask
- Is ISS (Institutional Shareholder Services) losing clients to AI in 2026?
- Yes, partially. JPMorgan's asset management arm, over $4 trillion in AUM, dropped ISS and Glass Lewis entirely for US proxy voting in January 2026, replacing them with its in-house AI tool Proxy IQ, which analyzes 3,000+ annual meetings.
- Who owns ISS STOXX now?
- Deutsche Börse Group owns 100% of ISS STOXX as of end of March 2026, after buying out General Atlantic's remaining 20% stake for about 1.1 billion euros, roughly 20 times adjusted EBITDA, announced February 2026.
- Could AI replace ISS's proxy advisory business?
- It already has for one major client. JPMorgan's in-house AI tool Proxy IQ replaced ISS and Glass Lewis in January 2026. Academic research from August 2025 found an AI-based proxy adviser correlated better with actual shareholder support than ISS alone.
- Is ISS under regulatory scrutiny in 2026?
- Yes. Executive Order 14366, signed December 11, 2025, directs the SEC to review or rescind proxy-advisor rules and consider forcing ISS to register as an Investment Adviser. The FTC also opened an antitrust probe into ISS and Glass Lewis around November 2025.
- How big is ISS's market share in proxy advisory?
- ISS and Glass Lewis together control more than 90 percent of the US proxy-advice market, according to Executive Order 14366 dated December 11, 2025, making ISS the dominant player in a near-duopoly.
- Who is ISS's biggest competitor?
- Glass Lewis is ISS's primary traditional rival, together forming a duopoly controlling over 90% of the US market as of December 2025. But the emerging competitive threat is in-house AI tools like JPMorgan's Proxy IQ, launched January 2026.
Timeline
- 2026-07-15Virginia Gomez named CEO effective Aug 3, 2026, replacing Gary Retelny; mandate on AI and tech
- 2026-07-15ISS STOXX acquires Scientific Beta, a smart-beta and climate index research firm
- 2026-02-11Deutsche Börse agrees to buy General Atlantic's remaining 20% ISS STOXX stake for 1.1 billion euros
- 2026-01-14Texas SB 2337 trial over ISS/Glass Lewis ESG disclosure practices reportedly scheduled for February 2026
- 2026-01-07JPMorgan drops ISS and Glass Lewis for US proxy voting, adopts in-house AI tool Proxy IQ
- 2025-12-11Executive Order 14366 directs SEC to review proxy-advisor rules and consider Investment Adviser registration
- 2025-11-20Glass Lewis announces it will stop publishing single benchmark voting recommendations starting 2027
- 2025-11-13FTC opens antitrust investigation into ISS and Glass Lewis
- 2025-08-18Academic study finds AI-based proxy adviser correlates better with shareholder support than ISS alone
- 2023-11-07ISS merges with Deutsche Börse's STOXX/Qontigo index unit to form ISS STOXX
Revision history
21 July 2026
First assessed. Losing its protection. The text above is fixed as of this date and is not edited afterwards.
In the same band
Sources
- Executive Order 14366 - Protecting American Investors from Foreign-Owned and Politically-Motivated Proxy Advis (2025-12-11)
- Wikipedia (2026-07-21)
- Deutsche Börse successfully completes acquisition of ISS (2021-02-26)
- Institutional Shareholder Services Announces Creation of ISS STOXX (2023-11-07)
- Deutsche Börse Acquires Remaining 20% Stake in ISS STOXX for €1.1 Billion (2026-02-11)
- ISS acquisition by Deutsche Börse in a context of mounting ESG data sourcing quality sovereignty concerns in E (2026-04-29)
- Institutional Shareholder Services Revenue, Funding & Valuation
- About ISS (2024-05-20)
- JPMorgan drops proxy advisory firms in favor of AI platform (2026-01-07)
- JPMorgan's asset management arm to end use of proxy advisers in US (2026-01-07)
- AI Might Make a Great Proxy Adviser (2025-08-18)
- ISS STOXX Announces Appointment of Virginia Gomez as Chief Executive Officer (2026-07-15)