Hot Issues Archives

Pension fund readiness for new climate rules under question

The UK’s pension watchdog, The Pensions Regulator, has uncovered a disturbing lack of readiness for the DWP’s upcoming ESG regulations. In a survey of the 100 largest schemes, 80% were …

SEC’s back to work priorities: proxy plumbing & human capital reporting

As the SEC returns to work after the shutdown, Commission chairman, Jay Clayton has started to lay out his departments work for the coming year. During a conference call …

FCA, FRC target “Effective” Stewardship

FRC and FCA target new, rigorous stewardship regime,
SRDII implementation begins, ESG resourcing questioned

In the latest round of consultations and discussion documents, the UK’s governance and financial markets regulators have laid out their “substantially higher expectations for investor stewardship …

Tax Secrecy: GRI Consultation, New Minerva Guidelines

Academic research has found that tax avoidance can increase the risk of share price crash [1] and the public revelation of aggressive tax avoidance can result in negative investor reaction and potential significant …

Applied Graphene Materials: compliance with codes is not the same as meeting investors’ expectations

AIM-listed Applied Graphene Materials holds its AGM on 18 December 2018 and with the elevated awareness of AIM governance standards, it’s worth taking a look at AGM’s AGM disclosures to better understand the differences between what’s expect of main and …

Associated British Foods: a lack of political expenditure transparency

FTSE 100-listed Associated British Foods reported in its annual report that a subsidiary of the Group incurred political expenditure to the approximate value of £5,000 during the year. The Company has not disclosed any further details on the expenditure, such …

MJ Gleeson: Intention to address Governance Code’s requirements

FTSE SmallCap urban regeneration and land development specialist MJ Gleeson Group holds its AGM on 6 December and shareholders may hold concerns with the level of independence on its board.

MJ Gleeson’s board consists of CEO & Managing Director Jolyon …

Women on FTSE 350 boards still to hit 33% target

Women on FTSE 350 boards yet to achieve 33% target

The Hampton-Alexander Review published its third annual report on 13 November. The report found that a quarter of FTSE 350 companies have only one woman on their board, described as “one & done” boards, and there remain five all-male boards. …

Four billion reasons not to fix the proxy plumbing

Can the SEC resist the lobbying deluge and restore essential share ownership rights?

Since the GFC, regulators have been working to make markets and economies safer. Part of that process has …

BlackRock is among the companies targeted for its lobbying payments

US Spotlight: investor coalition seeks improved lobbying disclosure

A coalition of at least 74 investors has filed resolutions at 50 US companies asking for more disclosure of payments for lobbying, including to trade associations. The resolutions have been coordinated by Walden Asset Management and American Federation of State, County …