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Manifest in the news

Recent quotes by Manifest on topical corporate governance issues: Protest vote against Prudential chairman >>Financial Times, May 19 2011 Conservative MP leads charge for tougher audits >>Financial News, May 18th 2011 Backlash grows over power of proxy >>Financial News, May 17th 2011 Shareholders ignore proxy advisors on bank pay >>Financial News, May 16th 2011 (Please […]

Audit reform – a double win?

Advocates for audit and accounting reform made great strides this week. Although much of the attention will be directed at the OFT’s conclusion that the audit market isn’t working, a slightly less well covered but equally welcome development emerged from the back benches of the House of Commons. New Conservative member for Wycombe, Steve Baker MP has […]

Audit market distorted and restricted says OFT

The UK’s competition watchdog, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has concluded that the audit market is not competing effectvely and is now considering a referal to the Competition Commission. Taking a lead from the House of Lords Economic Affairs select Committee’s work on audit, the OFT has decided that there are “reasonable grounds for […]

Investors take aim at US classified boards

Fourteen companies in the US S&P 500 have agreed to repeal their classified board status thanks to the joint engagement efforts of The State Board of Administration of Florida (the “SBA”), the investment manager of the Florida Retirement System, the American Corporate Governance Institute (the “ACGI”) and the Nathan Cummings Foundation. According to Lucien Bebchuk, President […]

Hammerson shock vote loss

Short-dated EGMs – don’t ban them, fix the voting Pity poor Hammerson plc who last week became the first FTSE 100 company in many years to lose a routine resolution because it failed to achieve the necessary majority. We say “routine” because, for UK shareholders at least, calling EGMs on 14 days notice is completely […]

Herbie votes again?

Procedures for voting at the upcoming AGM of Volkswagen AG have raised a few eyebrows at Manifest today (Tuesday 12th April). Unashamedly putting the Shareholders’ Rights Directive (SRD) record back on the record player, and turning the volume up to 11, (and just checking it wasn’t April 1st again) we were somewhat surprised, to say […]

Commission consults on an EU corporate governance framework

The European Commission released the eagerly-awaited Green Paper on Corporate Governance this week. It follows on from the Green Paper in June 2010 on Corporate Governance in Financial Institutions, as a result of a strong response pointing out that many of the corporate governance reforms discussed in the FI context were relevant more generally. Manifest […]

Vote Tapping. Issuers, please – Just Say “No”

Here at the Manifest blog we try to keep a balance of news and stories for the informed Stewardship community – which includes shareholders and issuers. Today’s piece is addressed directly to the issuer community. It’s a simple message: when it comes to buying vote data, please Just Say “No”. What are we talking about? […]

Shareholders care little about Audit says House of Lords

“The Big Four’s domination of the large firm audit market in the UK is almost complete: in 2010 they audited 99 of the FTSE 100 largest listed firms, which change auditors every 48 years on average. It is clearly an oligopoly with all the attendant concerns about competition, choice, quality and conflict of interest. It […]

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Responsible NEST building

The UK’s new default retirement system, NEST, may not have invested a single penny in contributions but when it does, is determined to be a good Steward on behalf of the nation’s investors. At a presentation to launch NEST’s Statement of Investment Principles last week, chairman Lawrence Churchill confirmed that, in addition to offering Ethical […]