Proxy voting and American Funds

A proxy authorizes someone other than the owner of a stock to cast a vote on his or her behalf at the issuing company’s shareholder meeting. Proxies typically are used by shareholders to elect a company’s board of directors, select independent auditors, approve executive compensation, and vote on other management- or shareholder-sponsored proposals.

With responsibility for millions of shares of stocks, American Funds routinely votes by proxy. Through this process, we aim to promote the long-term financial interests of our shareholders.

Our proxy voting procedures and principles

We view proxies of companies held by the portfolios as significant fund assets — and proxy voting as an integral part of the overall investment process. Our procedures and principles summarize our views on various corporate governance proposals.

View the procedures and principles for American Funds and American Funds Insurance Series® (PDF) PDF, as well as American Funds Target Date Retirement Series® (PDF) PDF.

Our proxy voting results

Throughout the year, we vote on thousands of proposals from all types of companies: from small businesses to international corporations.*

Links to the most recent proxy voting results for equity securities held in each American Funds portfolio are listed below.

Please note: To view the linked documents below, you’ll need Adobe® Reader®, which you can download for free from Adobe. Because of the numerous stocks held by many of the funds, some of the proxy results reports are large. You may experience delays in downloading them.

AMCAP Fund® (AMCAP)
American Balanced Fund® (AMBAL)
American Funds Global Balanced FundSM (GBAL)
American Funds Insurance Series® (AFIS)
American Funds Money Market Fund® (MMF)†
American Funds Mortgage Fund® (AFMF)†
American Funds Short-Term Tax-Exempt Bond Fund® (STEX)†
American Funds Target Date Retirement Series® (AFTD)†
American Funds Tax-Exempt Fund of New York® (TEFNY)†
American High-Income Municipal Bond Fund® (AHIM)†
American High-Income Trust® (AHIT)
American Mutual Fund® (AMF)
The Bond Fund of America® (BFA)
Capital Income Builder® (CIB)
Capital World Bond Fund® (WBF)
Capital World Growth and Income Fund® (WGI)
EuroPacific Growth Fund® (EUPAC)
Fundamental InvestorsSM (FI)
The Growth Fund of America® (GFA)
The Income Fund of America® (IFA)
Intermediate Bond Fund of America® (IBFA)†
International Growth and Income FundSM (IGI)
The Investment Company of America® (ICA)
Limited Term Tax-Exempt Bond Fund of America® (LTEX)†
The New Economy Fund® (NEF)
New Perspective Fund® (NPF)
New World Fund® (NWF)
Short-Term Bond Fund of America® (STBF)†
SMALLCAP World Fund® (SCWF)
The Tax-Exempt Bond Fund of America® (TEBF)†
The Tax-Exempt Fund of California® (TEFCA)†
The Tax-Exempt Fund of Maryland® (TEFMD)†
The Tax-Exempt Fund of Virginia® (TEFVA)†
U.S. Government Securities Fund® (GVT)†
Washington Mutual Investors FundSM (WMIF)

*
In some situations, we don’t vote proxies for companies outside the U.S., particularly when the expense outweighs the benefit to shareholders, liquidity issues exist, documents are not sufficient to make an informed decision, or if we are not notified of a scheduled meeting.
†
No equities held in the fund during the reporting period.

If you have questions about our proxy procedures and principles or voting results, please contact your financial professional or call us at 800/421-4225 ext. 4 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., Eastern time, Monday through Friday.

Investors should carefully consider investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. This and other important information is contained in the fund prospectuses and summary prospectuses, which can be obtained from a financial professional or downloaded and should be read carefully before investing.