PURCHASE, N.Y. (Reuters) - Morgan Stanley (N:MS) shareholders sided with the company's board on all votes taken at their annual meeting on Thursday, electing the slate of directors and endorsing the company's compensation of top executives.
All of the board nominees received at least 98 percent of votes cast and some 96 percent approved of executive pay, according to preliminary results announced at the end of the formal part of the meeting.
Chief Executive Officer James Gorman was paid $27 million for 2017, up 20 percent from the year before.
A shareholder proposal to prohibit vesting of stock awards for senior executives who resign to work for the government was opposed by the board and received about 20 percent of votes cast. The measure had been proposed by an investment fund of the AFL-CIO labor organization.
A handful of environmental protesters were removed from outside Morgan Stanley's Purchase, New York, office complex by police after they attempted to block an entrance with tree branches laid across the driveway, according to a Reuters journalist present at the event.
Despite the disturbance, which caused a backup of vehicles waiting to enter the bank's parking lot, the meeting began on time.
An environmental activist group called The FANG Collective later posted on its Twitter and Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) accounts that the individuals were protesting Morgan Stanley's relationship as a lender to and shareholder of Energy Transfer Partners (N:ETP), which operates the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline.
