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A new shareholder resolution, debuting at NYSE-listed General Electric Co.’s April 28 meeting, is asking the board to adopt a policy prohibiting any director receiving more than a 20% opposition vote from serving on a key board committee (audit, compensation or nomination) for at least two years. In his supporting statement, shareholder Gerald Armstrong (who Lord Myners has supported calls for reform of the Takeover Code in the UK, but made it clear that “The owners of firms that have lost so much from ill-advised takeovers must generate the momentum for reform”. Myners was speaking at the public policy think-tank, The Smith Institute, where he laid out his most Shareholders are getting used to Lord Myners, the UK’s Financial Services Secretary, exhorting them to act responsibly, but his speech at the National Association of Pension Funds recent corporate governance seminar reveals some new insights. Drawing on remuneration surveys from both sides of the Atlantic, Myners noted that in as little as a decade, The US Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United v. the Federal Election Commission, has sent shockwaves through the US corporate governance community and re-awakes concerns that companies will use shareholder funds to influence US political elections. Nearly all restraint on corporate political spending has been lifted by the ruling, prompting the Center for Political Accountability to launch The Financial Reporting Council (FRC), the UK’s corporate governance regulator, wants to hear from institutional investors in the UK and overseas about its proposals for a new “Stewardship Code” aimed at creating best practice principles for investors when engaging with the UK listed companies. The Stewardship Code is based on a set of principles originally The Extraordinary General Court of Bank of Ireland held today (Jan 12) approved important changes to the Bye-Laws of the company, with 99% of shareholders voting in favour. Bank of Ireland was established by Charter and thus is subject to a somewhat different regulatory structure than companies incorporated under the Companies Act. The Bye-Laws Ethos have announced that eight of the 20 companies included in the Swiss SMI Index have now agreed to implement a vote on remuneration issues. In the autumn of 2008, Ethos and eight Swiss pension funds filed a “say-on-pay” resolution requesting an advisory vote on the remuneration reports of five of the largest listed Early indications are that the 2010 proxy season will be at least as busy, if not more so, than last year when more than 640 shareholder resolutions were voted on at U.S. companies writes Mike Ryan of Manifest’s US partners, ProxyGovernance. Labor unions, public pension funds and other corporate governance advocates, having The UK’s Finanancial Reporting Council has issued a series of proposal to reform the UK’s corporate governance regime. What was previously called “The Combined Code” now becomes ”The UK Corporate Governance Code” and, subject to consultation, will apply to all listed companies with a Premium Listing for financial years beginning on or after 29 |
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