Breaking new ground as the first country to require its companies to disclose their greenhouse gas emissions, the UK government is storming ahead with its business sustainability agenda and is now making it obligatory for all quoted companies to disclose information regarding their wider environmental practices. Designed to reform current disclosure conventions of the annual […]
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The trouble with proxy advisors…. Is that everyone loves to hate them but, investors at least, can’t actually do their jobs without them. If we didn’t exist we’d have to be invented. So, what’s to be done? Yes, true, that opening statement was an enormous over-simplification, but the time has come to properly upack all […]
Read MoreGuest post by Damien Knight of MM&K At last, ‘quoted companies’ (i.e. UK incorporated companies with a listing on a main exchange) are faced with the full reality of the UK Government’s new regime for directors’ remuneration reporting and binding votes on pay policy. One thing is certain – companies are going to have to […]
Read MoreIt hardly comes as a surprise that two in five UK plcs find that proxy analysts have a so-called “negative influence” on the relationship between companies and their investors (Financial Times: “Proxy agencies fail to tick boxes” July 1, 2013) However, Sir John Parker appears to misunderstand the role of governance analysts. As the Investment […]
Read MoreEurope’s much heralded Shareholders’ Rights Directive (2007) was meant to put an end to share blocking and immobilization and give all shareholders, irrespective of their locale, the same rights to vote across borders with minimum fuss. However, the best laid plans of regulators, shareholders and issuers appear to have been scuppered by the custodian banks, […]
Read MoreThe European Commission this week (12/12/12) set out its 16 priorities for promoting sustainable and competitive companies in the EU. After two years of investigation, the Commission has decided to focus it’s workplan on three main areas: Transparency Long-Term Shareholder Engagement Company Law Reforms Transparency Increasing transparency on board diversity and risk management; Improving corporate governance reporting; Better […]
Read MoreThe Association of British Insurers have published the 2012 update to their Principles of Remuneration, with a number of key changes focusing on simpler remuneration structures while offering flexibility for special cases. Two new paragraphs have been inserted in the Principles, while content from the former Appendix is moved to an expanded Guidance section as […]
Read MoreProfessor John Kay has published his review of equity markets and long-term decision making which was commissioned by the UK’s Business Secretary Vince Cable. Here are the key recommendations, source: Kay review – Final Report July 2012 1. The Stewardship Code should be developed to incorporate a more expansive form of stewardship, focussing on strategic […]
Read MoreThe Manifest/MM&K Executive Director Total Remuneration Survey for 2012 was launched at a seminar in London on Tuesday, 12th June. The Manifest/MM&K Survey is the most authoritative and up to date analysis of published information on the pay practices of 642 listed companies. This year’s data shows: FTSE100 Remuneration Committees and boards continue to award […]
Read MoreIn this guest article, Cliff Weight of remuneration consultants MM&K responds to a comment from David Brimacombe, senior advisor to Nestor Advisors on our January piece: ‘Remuneration Committee “Cronyism” – digging deeper’. The article was written in response to assertions from the UK’s prime minister David Cameron and cabinet colleagues that shareholder’s had failed to tackle […]
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