April is probably not the ideal month to launch a consultation for anyone involved in corporate governance, nevertheless the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) issued a call for comment on its proposed  best practice guidance for the proxy research industry. The

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As we tweeted last week it’s AGM season, so that means it’s time for more consultations. Consultations are generally a good thing, even if the timing is a little inconvenient for shareholders. This article takes a look at the key …

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The European Commission has published its formal proposal for the much-leaked update to the 2007 Shareholder’s Rights Directive. It forms a part of the “road map” for the Commission’s 2012 company law and corporate governance action plan which is …

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As we approach the busiest time of year for those of us involved in share voting, it will come as little comfort that the current round of PRI reporting is weighing heavily in investor in-boxes.

It includes requirements relating to …

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computer keyboard with shareholder

The trouble with proxy advisors….

Is that everyone loves to hate them but, investors at least, can’t actually do their jobs without them. If we didn’t exist we’d have to be invented. So, what’s to be done?

Yes, true, that …

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It hardly comes as a surprise that two in five UK plcs find that proxy analysts have a so-called “negative influence” on the relationship between companies and their investors (Financial Times: “Proxy agencies fail to tick boxes” July 1,

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Probably the most un-noticed consequence of the battle around the ill-fated Royal Bank of Scotland acquisition of ABN-AMRO has been the subsequent limitation of shareholders’ rights in the Netherlands.

At the start of July a number of significant amendments Dutch …

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It’s being quite a few days for corporate governance. First, the unprecedented (at least since our records began in 1996) shock yesterday of Sir John Bond’s ejection as Chair of Glencore Xstrata, whilst in the same week, the PR chicanery …

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Last week, the UK Competition Commission published its provisional findings in its investigation into the provision of statutory audit services in the UK. Unsurprisingly, the findings show that there are obstacles to competition, as if we didn’t know that already. …

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ESMA has now released its final report on ‘The Proxy Advisor Industry’. It’s key recommendation, after long deliberation, is that  there is “no current market failure related to proxy advisors interaction with investors and issuers in the European Union …

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