To coincide with Equal Pay Day (Nov 5) Women’s pay and the lack of women in senior company roles have again been in the news. The Fawcett Society Employers invited employers to take the Pay Gap Pledge after calculating that from November 9 women were effectively working for free until the end of the year […]
Read MoreThe UK’s asset management trade association, The Investment Association (IA) last week released a statement of principles which they believe should determine directors’ remuneration in the UK – although if you were not aware of this you can be forgiven. Confusingly, the statement does not appear (at time of writing) on the IA’s web site, […]
Read MoreThose of us familiar with Disney’s “Herbie” film series were perhaps not at all surprised at the recent travails to have hit VW. After all, if their cars can be intelligent enough to compete on their own in rally-car races, surely rigging the odd emissions test or two would be simple to do? Back in […]
Read MoreThe increase in relevance of sustainability factors in investment continues apace in 2015. Macro themes require commitment at the micro level to make the difference. Manifest steps up.
Read MoreOn 20th May it was announced that five of the world’s largest banks are to pay fines totaling $3.6bn for charges which include manipulation of the foreign exchange market. These fines are a new high (low?) watermark for regulatory penalties imposed on financial sector companies but it is notable that news headlines about the fines […]
Read MoreThe announcement by FTSE 100 copper miner Antofagasta that there will no longer be any executive directors on its board means the unitary board system is no longer synonymous with UK corporate governance and is a first for a UK listed company (investment trusts aside). This ground breaking announcement means that no other FTSE All […]
Read MoreBack in September 2011, the FT ran a story exploring the frustrations felt by investors over complexity and opacity in the voting chain (“Call for clarity in proxy voting process”, FTfm, 12th September 2011). In many ways the article was no different to much of the other hand-wringing that has characterised commentary on this subject. […]
Read MoreFollowing on from a public statement issued last week by a group of leading Italian academics and legal experts, international institutional investors and their trade associations have been invited to add their voice to a call for the Italian Ministry of Finance to roll back a highly criticized legal measure that would strip longstanding investor protections […]
Read MoreThe US proxy access debate took a fresh turn recently with the attempt by seasoned governance commentator James McRitchie (www.corpgov.net) to get a shareholder proposal on the ballot at US organic food retailer Wholefoods. He submitted a proposal under which one or more shareholders owning 3% or more of outstanding shares for at least three […]
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