THE WORLD's largest shareholder group is urging investors to oust the chair of trading firm CMC Markets over a lack of female representation on its board.

Proxy group Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), which advises shareholders on voting, has called for James Richards to be sacked as chairman of the firm at its annual general meeting on Thursday over failures to hire enough women to its board of directors, The Telegraph first reported.

The trading firm, run by Lord Peter Cruddas, will have only two female directors out of eight when Clare Salmon steps down at the annual meeting this week, short of the 33 per cent target set for FTSE 350 companies in a major review of gender diversity on corporate boards.

ISS said CMC had made no efforts to hit the target by the next AGM and it was therefore backing a move to oust him.

"As chair of the nomination committee, it is James Richards' responsibility to ensure that the board promotes gender diversity in line with emerging good practice," ISS said. "As such, a vote against James Richards' re-election is considered warranted at this time."

Proxy groups like ISS carry significant clout among investors and mean the firm could face a bloody nose at its AGM.

CMC Markets did not respond to a Sunday comment request.

(c) 2022 City A.M., source Newspaper