The Council of Institutional Investors (CII), which represents pension funds and other institutional investors in the US, has published two reports highlighting the most effective ways to conduct and disclose engagement between investors and companies. CII Investor-Company Roundtable: Effective Engagement is the result of a roundtable convened by CII in July 2015 to discuss the most effective […]
Read MoreNew York City Mayor, Don Blasio, has urged all government pension funds in New York and across the US to divest from funds that include assault weapon manufacturers. In his call he is joining a growing campaign which is urging institutional investors to divest from, and for individual Americans to stop their pension funds investing […]
Read MoreIn a rare case of a CEO being personally held to account for corporate wrongdoing the former boss of US coal mining company, Massey Energy, Don Blankenship has been convicted of conspiring to violate US mining health and safety standards. These safety violations led to an explosion at one of its mines, Upper Big Branch in […]
Read MoreAl Gore, Founder of the Climate Reality Project, provided the key note speech at a meeting of institutional investors held as part of the official series of events within the UN’s Climate Change Summit (COP 21) in Paris. The event – Investing for the long term: addressing carbon asset risk – provided think tank Carbon Tracker […]
Read MoreThe simple but powerful statement of solidarity with the notion of a free society that articulated the public reaction to the recent horrific events at the offices of Charlie Hebdo in Paris shows just how important freedom is in our modern age. Not just freedom of expression, but freedom of belief and movement too. “Je […]
Read MoreIt’s being quite a few days for corporate governance. First, the unprecedented (at least since our records began in 1996) shock yesterday of Sir John Bond’s ejection as Chair of Glencore Xstrata, whilst in the same week, the PR chicanery currently being played out in the US ahead of JPMorgan’s AGM next week over the question of whether the Chair and Chief Executive […]
Read More“The investing community desires change”. Not something we weren’t aware of, surely? However, when it’s a summary of the almost unanimous response to the most comprehensive regulatory review of the US proxy system the SEC has undertaken in 30 years, this finding is highly significant. In short, the Securities Transfer Association analysis of the 199 […]
Read MoreThe Dodd-Frank financial reform bill was voted through by both the House of Representatives and Senate by 237-192 and 60-39 respectively. The legislation is now expected to be signed into law by President Obama as early as this week. The passage of the bill is particularly significant for the corporate governance community which worked together […]
Read MoreMary Schapiro, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission is a step closer to straightening out America’s proxy plumbing. In a speech made at the Stanford University Law School Directors College on June 20th, Schapiro outlined the Commission’s current thinking. “the Commission will soon consider publishing a concept release soliciting detailed ideas about how to […]
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 […]
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