Regulation Archives

US Bill to limit exec pay voted through

US shareholders get say on pay at financial institutions – in exchange for more investor disclosure.

The US House of Representatives has passed Congressman Barney Frank’s bill to “amend the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to provide shareholders with an …

Japan turns to overseas investors

Welcome news this week about Japanese corporate governance developments from Washington-DC based Council of Institutional Investors. Jonathan Urick, CII’s international governance policy co-ordiantor met with Makoto Seta and Toshiya Otsu of the Japanese Financial Services Agency (FSA) to discuss their …

SEC Investor Advisory Committee gets to work

The SEC’s Investor Advisory Committee has kicked off its first meeting with an ambitious and far-reaching agenda.Sets Ambitious Agenda. At its inaugural meeting July 27, the committee, which includes institutional governance heavyweights Hye-Won Choi (TIAA-CREF), Mark Anson (Nuveen Investments), Abe …

ASIC pushes for disqualifications for former James Hardie directors

Australia’s Business Day has reported that The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (‘ASIC’) wants seven former non-executive directors and three former executives at James Hardie banned from company directorships for at least five years each and fined a total of …

Combined Code Review: FRC issues progress report

The UK’s corporate governance regulator, the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has today published a progress report on its review of the Combined Code on Corporate Governance, which it kicked off in March 2009.

The report summarises the results of the …

He who shouts loudest: who’s pulling the strings of cross-border voting reform?

Any choral singer will be familiar with the concept: a choir singing an acapella section will often naturally go ‘flat and lose pitch’, only to have to painfully re-adjust pitch when the orchestra joins in. Conversely, if the orchestra were …

First there was vote borrowing, now there’s vote buying

The governance world has been concerned about the possible abuses arising from so-called “stock lending”, particularly when it comes to voting rights. Many commentators have suggested that it should really be called “temporary stock selling” to better reflect the legal …

Financial Market Reform: US investors have their say

The Investors Working Group, a bi-partisan panel of experts created in February 2009 by the Council of Institutional Investors and the CFA Institute Centre for Financial Market Integrity, has released its recommendations for reform and modernisation of the US financial …

Sir David Walker’s 39 Steps

Sir David Walker’s review of the governance of UK banks, commissioned by Prime Minister Gordon Brown, has published 39 recommendations aimed at improving the governance of banks and other big financial institutions (BOFIs). The aim of the report was to …

Germany changes law on D&O Insurance

The Bundesrat is expected to ratify Gesetz zur Angemessenheit der Vorstandsvergütung – VorstAG today, following its approval by the Bundestag on 18 June 2009. The new law will then come into effect upon its publication in the German Federal Law …