The US Council Institutional Investors (CII) and individual institutional investors have voiced their continued opposition to the Financial CHOICE Act, which has been proposed and passed by the House of Representatives’ Financial Services Committee. The CII and over 50 institutional investors delivered letters opposing the provisions of the Financial CHOICE Act that they believe would hurt […]
Read MoreThe Pre-Emption Group has published a monitoring report looking at implementation of the 2015 Statement of Principles and the template resolutions. The principles relate to the when considering the case for disapplying pre-emption rights Over the course of the year, the template resolutions and the Statement of Principles have generally been followed. The Statement of Principles […]
Read MoreThe Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has commenced an investigation under its audit enforcement procedure into the conduct of KPMG, in relation to its audit of Rolls-Royce’s financial statements from 2010 to 2013. The FRC’s investigation follows an announcement in January that a Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA) had been reached between the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and the engineering company. […]
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The UK’s Pensions Regulator, TPR, has issued new investment guidance for defined benefit pension schemes including expanded duties on stewardship, sustainability, ESG and voting issues. The guidance follows the common principles set out in TPR’s DC investment guidance together with some specific considerations relevant to defined benefit schemes. Commenting on the new guidance, Sarah Wilson Manifest […]
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Demand for CEO pay ratios has increased with initiatives in the US and UK focusing on the discrepancies between director and employee pay and the need for more regulation. US Democratic Senator Bob Menendez and eight other senators have written to Michael Piwowar, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, to urge him to implement […]
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The Business Roundtable (BRT), an association of the top US chief executives, has voiced its support for President Trump’s plans to reform Dodd Frank and has outlined a number of corporate governance regulations that it believes need reform or to be repealed. In a letter sent towards the end of February to Gary Cohn, the director […]
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The UK’s Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has argued that it needs more powers to take enforcement action against directors so that it can investigate and prosecute all directors for financial reporting breaches and associated issues of integrity, rather than only accountants and actuaries as at present in its response to the government’s green paper on corporate […]
Read MoreThe UK’s Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has announced that in 2017 it will carry out a number of targeted thematic reviews of company reporting and audit on issues it knows to be of shareholder interest and where weaknesses have been identified. In respect of corporate reporting the FRC said it would be writing to companies […]
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The Financial Reporting Council has recommended a series of changes that are needed to improve the UK’s governance regime. In a letter to the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) select committee the FRC has said that Section 172 of the Companies Act should be made more effective to ensure that directors take account of the views […]
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Canada has introduced a bill aimed at improving its corporate governance framework. An Act to amend the Canada Business Corporations Act (CBCA), the Canada Cooperatives Act, the Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act and the Competition Act includes proposals to increase shareholder democracy and participation, support the push to increase women’s board participation, improve corporate transparency and business certainty. Navdeep Bains, Minister of […]
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