Even the largest index funds have only about 20 people (one per ~1,000 companies) in their governance departments.

Judge as of January 2016. The test is whether the largest index fund managers (for example Vanguard, BlackRock and State Street) each had governance/investment-stewardship teams of roughly 20 people, covering about 1,000 portfolio companies per person. True: contemporaneous disclosures or reporting show the largest index managers' stewardship teams at roughly 15–25 people. Mostly true: the teams were broadly of that size (up to about 30) and the ratio is in the right order of magnitude, or one of the largest managers was a bit outside the range. Mixed: one major index manager fits and another is substantially larger. Mostly false: the largest teams were substantially larger (for example 30–50 people), so the claim of tiny teams is overstated even though the teams were small relative to their holdings. False: the largest index managers' governance teams were far larger (for example more than 50 people) or the ratio is off by an order of magnitude.

Set before the research began.

1. E1 Financial Times, January 28, 2017 article: "BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street bulk up governance staff Financial Times (reposted by The Shareholder Forum) · 28 January 2017

   “New York-based BlackRock now has the largest corporate governance team of any global asset manager, after hiring 11 analysts for its stewardship division over the past three years, bringing total headcount to 31.”

2. E2 Financial Times, January 28, 2017 article: "BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street bulk up governance staff Financial Times (reposted by The Shareholder Forum) · 28 January 2017

   “Vanguard, the Pennsylvania-based fund company that has grown quickly on the back of its low-cost mantra, has nearly doubled the size of its corporate governance team over the same period to 20 employees.”

3. E3 Financial Times, January 28, 2017 article: "BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street bulk up governance staff Financial Times (reposted by The Shareholder Forum) · 28 January 2017

   “State Street, the US bank, has almost tripled the size of the governance team in its asset management division to 11.”

A January 2017 FT report says BlackRock's stewardship team reached 31 after it hired 11 analysts over the previous three years (E1). That puts it at about 20 in early 2014 and somewhere between 20 and 31 by January 2016. Vanguard nearly doubled its team over the same period to 20 (E2), so it had roughly 10–20 people in January 2016. State Street almost tripled to 11 (E3), so its team was smaller still. The largest index managers' governance teams were therefore broadly of the size claimed, with BlackRock possibly at the top of that range. The evidence does not give exact January 2016 headcounts or confirm the one-per-1,000-companies ratio, so the verdict is mostly true rather than true.