While the AGM season is now mostly behind us as far as the biggest European blue chips are concerned, it’s now the turn of the mid-caps to face their shareholders. A quick review of the data so far shows that overall turnout, based on 74 of the top 100 UK meetings is holding steady at 68% (2009: 67%). […]
Read MoreIntesa Sanpaolo, Italy’s biggest retail lender and the by-product of the takeover of Sanpaolo IMI by Banca Intesa is an excellent case study of a) how not to construct a post-merger board and b) how not to engage with shareholders and c) why EU shareholder reforms can’t come too quickly. The bank operates what can only […]
Read MoreAllie Monaco, Research Manager of Manifest’s US partners, Proxy Governance takes a look at the hot issues of the US proxy for the coming two weeks:
Read MoreAs the UK gears up for the national elections on May, the general public has now received nearly all of their “notices of meeting” ahead of casting their ballots. Sadly, there won’t be any electronic voting – but then the residents of Florida would probably say we should be grateful for a stubby little pencil […]
Read MoreRiskMetrics is to governance as Microsoft is to Internet browsers: discuss. No, not the next MBA dissertation topic for students to grapple with – but it’s certainly worth a thought. And that’s not just Manifest’s view either. Two members of the US lobby alliance, the Shareholder Communications Coalition, have issued a discussion document looking at the role of Proxy […]
Read MoreThe US Senate has revealed its proposals to overhaul the American financial system through Senator Christopher Dodd’s “Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010”. Across 1,336 pages the Bill outlines a series of remedies which it states will end “too big to fail” and restore responsibility and accountability to the markets. Commentators have observed that the […]
Read MoreThe Auditing Practice Board has published 137 responses to its consultation on audit firms providing non-audit services to listed companies that they audit. A consistent theme in may of the responses is a call for further transparency in disclosures in accounts of listed companies in relation to the non-audit work undertaken by the auditor. While […]
Read MoreThe UK Government has asked the Financial Reporting Council to consider including a new principle in its code of conduct (UK Corporate Governance Code) to require companies to report on what they’re doing to increase the number of women in senior management positions. Under proposals announced by The Equalities Office, companies may be required to […]
Read MoreSo, it’s 16:22pm the day after after Infineon’s highly contentious AGM. We have the streaming video from the meeting, we have the presentations, we even have a press release announcing the votes “For” the board candidates. But do we have a definitive list of proxy voting results. No. Is the IR department concerned that the […]
Read MoreMost investment managers are voting proxies without guidance from clients, according to a new survey released this week by the Canadian Shareholder Association for Research and Education. In its annual proxy survey, SHARE reports that 71% of investment managers say that they vote most of their pension fund clients’ proxies at their own discretion, without […]
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