Wells Fargo, Ameriprise tighten board ballot rules

Wells Fargo & Co. and Ameriprise Financial Inc. adopted requirements that their board directors must win the majority of the votes cast by shareholders.

Under the new standards, directors who don’t receive the majority of votes cast in uncontested elections in 2007 will be asked to step down.

San Francisco-based Wells Fargo, the fifth-largest U.S. bank, and Ameriprise, the brokerage and money manager that American Express Co. spun off last year, join some of the largest U.S. companies, including General Electric Co., AT&T; Inc., Raytheon Co. and Best Buy Co., that have made similar changes to their bylaws.

Pressure from shareholder activists has prompted companies to voluntarily adopt changes to their corporate governance bylaws.

U.S. companies typically elect directors even if they received just one vote.

“We’ve carefully considered the views of our shareholders in this decision,” Dick Kovacevich, chairman and chief executive of Wells Fargo, said in a statement. “We believe this change is consistent with leading corporate governance practices, and that it’s the right thing to do for all our stakeholders.”

Minneapolis-based Ameriprise said its independent nominating and governance committee would make the final decision on whether to accept or reject the resignation of directors who did not receive a majority of the votes cast by shareholders.