Almost one year to the day since the collapse of Lehman Brothers, US federal Judge Jed Rakoff stepped up to protect the interests of shareholders in the on-going battle between owners and regulators. In a scathing judgement, Rakoff has rejected the $33 million settlement between Bank of America and the SEC which aimed to settle allegations that by […]
Read MoreJust to illustrate the impact of the reformed broker voting rules in the USA, it’s interesting to look at Bank of America’s proxy votes results which were released to the SEC on Friday, 7th August. Last month, the SEC voted to exclude broker votes from all director elections starting 1st January 2010. Earlier this year Bank of […]
Read MoreA research study by Manifest’s US partners, PROXYGovernance Inc(PGI), reveals some interesting trends about US board governance. PGI’s review of Russell 3000 companies holding their 2009 annual meeting prior to July 1 reveals that boards of financial services firms have added fewer new directors since the sub-prime credit crisis began than boards in any other major sector. […]
Read MoreThe 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 markets. According to the report, strengthening existing regulatory agencies, closing gaps in the regulatory structure, […]
Read MoreManifest’s annual review of executive remuneration trendshas now been published and has received a positive response from a variety of market commentators including Robert Peston for BBC’s News at 10 and the BBC World Service’s European Business News. This year’s survey has been extended to included pensions data as well as detailed narrative on trends […]
Read MoreNine leading US pension funds have announced that they will be disclosing their voting intentions for shareholder meetings on a new web portal, ProxyDemocracy. AFSCME Employees Pension Plan, CalPERS, CalSTRS, Calvert Investments, Christian Brothers Investment Services, Domini Social Investments, the Florida State Board of Administration, Green Century and Trillium Asset Management are making their individual proxy […]
Read MoreDid the Lloyds board act with sufficient care on the HBOS deal? Manifest takes a look at the legal aspects of directors’ duties in the context of one of this century’s most politically charged takeovers. The 2006 Companies Act for the first time codified a number of long established common law principles relating to the […]
Read MoreAlmost 14 years since European markets firmly embraced the concept of separating the role of Chair/CEO, most US issuers are still contemplating what it means for them. That could be set to change following the success of trade union SEIU’s proposal to reform the Bank of America board. The proposal to amend BoA’s bylaws requiring an independent […]
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