A new shareholder resolution, debuting at NYSE-listed General Electric Co.’s April 28 meeting, is asking the board to adopt a policy prohibiting any director receiving more than a 20% opposition vote from serving on a key board committee (audit, compensation …
Read MoreThe market for US compensation consultants is looking increasingly concentrated according to new research by ProxyGovernance.
Based on data for annual meetings held between Jan. 1, 2009 and July 1, 2009, five consulting firms – Towers Perrinand Watson Wyatt (now …
Read MoreThe nickel producer and explorer, Western Areas, saw its remuneration report defeated at its AGM on 6 November, as Australia’s stormy AGM season continues.The voting saw 52.5% vote against with a further 2.3% in abstentions. Four other remuneration-related resolutions were …
Read MoreLeading US mutual fund manager Oppenheimer Funds has written to the SEC supporting improved disclosure of commercial relationships which might create a conflict of interest.
In a Sept.24 letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission commenting on the SEC’s proposed …
Read MoreSo it’s not just shareholder meetings that have voting problems. The UK’s general election collapsed into the realms of farce this week with disenfranchised voters complaining of lost ballot cards, out of date voting registers and exclusion from polling stations …
Read MoreThe UK’s High Court has granted an injunction prohibiting the Director of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) from taking any further steps in its plea bargain settlement with BAE Systems.
SFO has been investigating alleged bribery and corruption in BAE’s …
Read MoreBall Corp, an Indiana-incorporated company, has faced shareholder proposals in four of the past five years (2005, 2006, 2008 and 2009) to declassify its board. In each year, despite board opposition, the proposal received majority support from shareholders voting for …
Read MoreAmendments to ‘Broker Voting Rule’ yield unexpected results
The long-awaited change to NYSE Rule 452, effective Jan. 1, 2010, reclassifying uncontested director elections as ‘non-routine’ items, thereby eliminating the discretion of brokers to vote uninstructed shares, also makes it more …
Read MoreThe UK’s Finanancial Reporting Council has issued a series of proposal to reform the UK’s corporate governance regime. What was previously called “The Combined Code” now becomes “The UK Corporate Governance Code” and, subject to consultation, will apply to all …
Read MoreThis month’s guest article has been written by Catherine Howarth, CEO of FairPensions.
Corporate governance reform isn’t perhaps the most glamorous area of public policy for your ordinary man or woman on the street. Indeed it’s easy to forget how …
Read More