A report by the Asset Management Working Group of the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative links the integration of ESG (environmental, social and corporate governance) issues into investment processes with legal responsibilities of fiduciaries (including pension trustees, asset managers and investment advisors). It also calls into question whether the institutional investment industry responsible ownership […]
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 MoreSir 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 find ways of minimising risky behaviour and improving the way companies and shareholder communicate and interact. Many of the […]
Read MoreManifest’s campaign to ensure shareholders at Irish companies have the opportunity to cast an advisory vote on the remuneration report gathered momentum over the weekend, with a full page article in the Irish edition of The Sunday Times. Last month Manifest filed shareholder resolutions at five Irish companies seeking an advisory say-on-pay vote. The Sunday […]
Read MoreA 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 […]
Read MoreWhen it comes to incentive pay schemes, it’s rare to encounter a scheme that strays from the ‘tried and trusted’ EPS and TSR performance measures. Anything that seeks to focus to a significant degree on extra-financial performance measures is for all practical purposes non-existent. As the debate on performance-related pay rumbles on, many investors are […]
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