The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) this week (16/03/2010) asked mutual funds to disclose their proxy voting procedures on their websites and in their annual reports with effect from the 2010-2011 fiscal year. Additionally it has asked funds to disclose their actual proxy votes in annual and extraordinary general meetings of investee companies in terms of changes […]
Read MoreThere has been much press comment regarding the pay package of Marc Bolland, the new Marks & Spencer (M&S) CEO. M&S has been no stranger to press and investor attention in recent times. In particular, the decision to combine the roles of Chairman and CEO in 2008 attracted criticism for the failure to provide a […]
Read MoreThe governmental responses to the financial crisis have been many and varied with markedly different approaches being taken on both sides of the Atlantic. One common strand between the European and US administrations has been the role of institutional shareholders and their use – or otherwise – of voting rights to discipline management. In the […]
Read MoreIn a 4-1 vote, the Securities and Exchange Commission has approved a series of governance reforms designed to “help investors make more informed voting decisions.” As from 28 February 2010 investors will not only know a great deal more about the directors they are electing, they will also have faster access to voting outcomes with the […]
Read MoreFollowing on from the creation of the SEC’s Investment Advisory Committee, we now have details of its three working sub-committes which will focus on investor education, investor protection, shareholder voting and corporate governance. The SEC’s Investor Advisory Committee is co-chaired by Richard Hisey from AARP Financial and Hye-Won Choi from TIAA-CREF, in consultation with SEC Commissioner […]
Read MoreThe Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) has published its latest analysis of reporting against the ASX Corporate Governance Council’s Principles and Recommendations and finds that companies and trusts are continuing to improve their corporate governance reporting. ASX’s supervision subsidiary, ASX Markets Supervision (ASXMS), reviewed the FY08 annual reports of 1,510 listed entities that reported with a 30 June […]
Read MoreIn a widely anticipated move, the US Securities and Exchange Commission has moved forward with an aggressive reform program to update the US proxy system. The SEC met today (01/07/09) to approve the New York Stock Exchange’s proposal regarding broker discretionary voting in uncontested director elections (NYSE Rule 452). In addition to the introduction of […]
Read MoreThe UK’s trade union federation, the TUC has published its 2008 fund manager voting survey and found investors wanting. For the seventh year the TUC’s investment team has analysed the voting records of 20 fund managers and pensions funds for the period July 2007 and July 2008, which included votes on banks’ remuneration reports and the […]
Read MoreThe SEC has three key governance reforms on the agenda for its July 1 “Sunshine Act Meeting” : Item 1: The Commission will consider whether to propose amendments to the proxy rules under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to set forth requirements for U.S. registrants that have received financial assistance under the Troubled Asset Relief Program […]
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