Global investeringsfond demokratiserer aktivt ejerskab for enkeltmedlemmer, som kan vælge individuel stemmeafgivelse på selskabers generalforsamlinger: I en beskrivelse af tiltaget fra Blackrock hedder det, at ”On February 14, BlackRock expanded Voting Choice through a U.S. pilot program to eligible shareholder accounts in its flagship iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV) which seeks to track the S&P 500 Index, enabling more than three million U.S. retail shareholder accounts invested in the fund. This pilot expands Voting Choice to individual investors beyond institutional investors for the first time since the launch of the program. This latest move increased eligible Voting Choice assets to $2.6 trillion, or half of BlackRock’s index equity assets under management. Eligible IVV shareholder accounts can now choose one of six third-party voting policies that aligns with their preferences, or they can continue to use the BlackRock Investment Stewardship policy.”
Engelsk rigsrevision revser Bank of England efter flere skandalesager. I Danmark er der ingen eksterne øjne på Nationalbanken: The Guardian skriver, at ”dozens of “major” compliance breaches have been unearthed at the Bank of England, despite progress to fix shortcomings after misuse of the central bank’s audio feed by hedge funds four years ago. The report by the National Audit Office (NAO), the public spending watchdog, reviewed the Bank’s actions to improve the handling of non-financial risks, and whether it had learned lessons from two high-profile scandals. That included the 2017 resignation of deputy governor Charlotte Hogg, who failed to declare that her brother worked for Barclays, and an embarrassing security breach in December 2019 that gave hedge funds early access to audio feeds of the Banks press conferences.”
Gode præcise bestyrelsesreferater reducerer risiko for, at bestyrelsen ifalder et bestyrelsesansvar: I forskningspapir, der har gransket erstatningssager mod bestyrelser, hedder det, at ”when, however, decisions have not been documented by minutes and other formal records, but appear to have been made through informal communications, the courts have required production of wide-ranging discovery like texts and emails necessary to enable a petitioner to consider filing a complaint for breach of fiduciary duty or other proper purposes; When books and records incorporated in a complaint show that directors attempted to address a compliance risk, and thus refuted any reasonable inference of lack of a good-faith effort, Caremark complaints have been dismissed; When corporate minutes and advisor presentations are prepared in a timely way, evidence careful deliberations and proper reasons for board action, and tell a story consistent with the company’s SEC filings, the courts have given them credence and they have helped corporate defendants win motions to dismiss and trials.”
Lovgivningsmæssige kvoter for kvindeandele i bestyrelsen hjælper, men det fremmer ikke valg af kvinder som den vigtige bestyrelsesformand: I en undersøgelse udarbejdet af Deloitte hedder det, at ”while quotas and targets may help diversify boards, they do not seem to have the same effect on chair and CEO roles. Perhaps surprisingly, five of the top seven countries for women chairs do not have a quota for women serving on boards. Even more striking, 17 of the top 20 countries for women CEOs do not either. Globally, the percentage of women chairing boards is nearly three times lower than the percentage of women serving on boards, with just 8.4% of the world’s boards being chaired by women. The numbers are low even in countries with gender quotas. For example, while Norway and France, which were among the first governments to introduce quota legislation (in 2005 and 2010, respectively) are both now approaching parity in the boardroom, fewer than 13% of these women directors have ascended to the chair role. Germany and Switzerland, where quotas were introduced more recently, have women chairing boards at less than a 5% rate.”
Morten W. Langer
