Editor, Author at Minerva-Manifest

Vanguard: Walden Asset Management ESG engagement success

Sustainable investment specialist, Walden Asset Management, has withdrawn a resolution due to be voted on at a Vanguard mutual fund meeting in November. The resolution had challenged the proxy voting records on shareholder resolutions addressing significant social and environmental

Toshiba: Auditors sign off accounts so Japanese company avoids delisting

Japanese company, Toshiba, which has been restructuring after admitting accounting failures in 2015 has published its annual report for 2016 after receiving a qualified opinion from its auditor, PWC Arata, which meant the firm avoided being delisted from …

Climate change risk disclosure: shareholders take Australian Bank to court

Two private investors are taking legal action against Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) for failing to adequately disclose climate change risk in the bank’s 2016 annual report. The shareholders are being represented by Environmental Justice Australia which has filed a …

shareholder proposals US Chamber of Commerce

Are shareholder proposals the burden the US Chamber of Commerce claims?

No, says veteran US corporate governance activist James McRitichie, In his blog, CorpGov.net, Jim emphatically rebuts the claims made in a paper recently published by the US Chamber of Commerce’s Center for Capital Markets Competitiveness which argues that the …

UK Stewardship Code: and then there were two (tiers)

The UK’s Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has removed its tier three category of asset managers, which suggested they required improvement, in their adherence to its stewardship code.

The FRC launched an assessment in December 2015 of the signatories to …

AIM: Hidden director payments at Real Food Company

AIM-listed Real Good Food has admitted to not disclosing payments to directors in its related parties transaction notes within its annual reports for three financial years from 2014 to 2016.

These notes should have revealed the payment of consultancy fees …

Deforestation: shareholders get response to resolutions

Investors are increasingly pushing some of the world’s biggest companies to commit to reducing their impact on the global forests, according to an analysis of shareholder resolutions put forward at US AGMs. The report was published by the Global Canopy …

responsible investment Australia New Zealand

New Zealand and Australia see RI growth surge

The level of responsible investing has risen in New Zealand and Australia according to recent reports from the Responsible Investment Association Australasia (RIAA).

The steep rise of over 2500% in responsible investment within in the New Zealand market, which jumped …

UK staff: Companies can achieve ESG standards without hitting profits

Nearly half (47%) of UK staff can achieve higher environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards without sacrificing profitability, according to research carried out by Opinium on behalf of the Better Society Awards and Citigate Dewe Rogerson.

The online …

FRC recognises improvements in audit quality

The quality of auditing of larger companies has improved after targeted work by the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) the regulator said. The FRC said the leadership of audit firms’ focus on, and investment in, improving audit quality, together with promoting …