Another week, another consultation deadline in the world of responsible investment – last week the FRC’s consultation on the Stewardship Code. With so many column inches being taken up with coverage of scandals which have shaken the very bedrock of financial and investment services, we might well wonder if fine tuning the way that investors report their Stewardship activities […]
Read MoreNever mind the peak meeting season, the past few days has seen a flurry of activity in Westminster which will have a bearing on aspects of shareholder voting and corporate governance in the UK. On Tuesday, the Treasury Select Committee heard evidence from Baroness Hogg, Chairman, and Peter Montagnon, Senior Investment Adviser, both of the Financial Reporting Council, as […]
Read MoreThe UK has offered a new template for global governance with the introduction of the first formal code of conduct for investors. Under the watchful eye of the Financial Reporting Council, it is hoped that the Stewardship code will, as Chairman Baroness Hogg said: “be a catalyst for better engagement between shareholders and companies and create a […]
Read MoreShareholders don’t like it, nor do the regulators. It’s expressively forbidden to be included in appraisals. Unfortunately, evidence uncovered by the Financial Reporting Council’s Audit Inspection Unit (AIU) shows that the controversial practice of selling non-audit services to audit clients is alive and well, threatening the independence of audits. At Deloitte audit directors and managers are […]
Read MoreComing so late in the life of the current parliamentary term, the City may be forgiven for already turning attention from yesterday’s budget statement to post-election budgetary announcements for substantive financial and fiscal policy developments. However, hidden in the text of yesterday’s Budget Report is a potentially highly significant statement, which could make voting disclosure a […]
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 listed companies with a Premium Listing for financial years beginning on or after 29 June 2010, […]
Read MoreThe increasing foreign ownership of UK companies is forcing the UK’s reporting watchdog the FRC rethink the role of audit and market oversight. Stephen Haddrill, chief executive of the Financial Reporting Council, speaking to senior finance figures this week said that he would canvass opinion on the adequacy of the audit report, whether there needs to be […]
Read MoreThe Financial Reporting Council has welcomed the recommendations of The Walker Report and confirmed its committment taking ownership of the proposed Stewardship Code, subject to consultation. The FRC is set to issue a report on its own review of the impact and effectiveness of the Combined Code in early December, together with a draft revised Code […]
Read MoreThere’s no small irony that Lloyds Banking Group will be asking 2.8 million private shareholders to back its £13.5 billion fundraising, the biggest deal of its kind in UK history, on the same day that Sir David Walker makes his final recommendations to Her Majesty’s Government on how the governance of the UK financial sector […]
Read MoreAs the consultation on the UK’s Stewardship Code draws to a close, the UK’s reporting regulator, the FRC, has moved to strengthen its secretariat with the appointment of ABI governance veteran, Peter Montagnon. Montagnon will join his former ABI boss Stephen Haddrill, on June 1st. FRC chairman Christopher Hogg said that Montagnon’s appointment would: “significantly enhance the FRC’s […]
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