Nine 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 […]

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A new study prepared by Manifest’s US partner, PROXY Governance with sponsorship by the IRRC Institute, “Effectiveness of Hybrid Boards,” analyzes 120 “hybrid boards” formed from 2005 through 2008 to evaluate their effectiveness in two areas: changes in business strategy and corporate governance structures; and changes in shareholder value measured both absolutely and relative to […]

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The quest for a single set of global governance standards is misguided and investors should stop using global governance standards based on US policy approaches. That’s the conclusion of Lucian Bebchuk and Assaf Hamdani in their latest paper: “The Elusive Quest for Global Governance Standards”. The key issue at the heart of what many will see […]

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FTSE 100 bosses are paying themselves “footballers’ salaries” out of proportion with the rest of the market according to a report from pay consultants MM&K and governance group Manifest. The increase in total pay for chief executives and senior directors of the UK’s largest companies is “on a curve to infinity” as management fight to […]

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The dominance of the Big 4 audit firms continues to be a cause for concern according to a report by the UK’s reporting and governance watchdog, the Financial Reporting Council. The FRC has published the third of its Progress Reports outlining the progress of the 15 recommendations made by the Market Participants Group (MPG) in October 2007 […]

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A short-term outlook and portfolio turnover exceeding 100% per annum is inhibiting ESG integration finds new  research by Mercer,  the investment consulting firm. These findings are included in it’s recent report, Gaining Ground: Integrating Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Facors into Investment Process in Emerging Markets. The report, commissioned by IFC, a member of the World Bank […]

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