Companies: forget re-elections July 18, 2010 Companies are being urged to ignore guidelines that require them to annually re-elect board members. Three of the UK’s biggest investors – Hermes, Railpen and the Universities Superannuation Scheme – have written to 700 companies urging them not to comply. In the letter, they warn that annual election of directors can undermine collective decision making [...]
ABI director Kerrie Kelly leaves after just six months July 15, 2010 KERRIE Kelly has left as director general of the Association of British Insurers (ABI) after just six months in the role. Kelly is “stepping down from her role to return to Australia… for personal reasons”, according to the ABI. She joined the ABI to replace Stephen Hadrill, who left to join the Financial Reporting Council. [...]
FSA SET TO RIP UP MORTGAGE RULES July 12, 2010 THE FINANCIAL Services Authority (FSA) unveiled plans to overhaul the mortgage market this morning, with some warning the changes will punish borrowers while doing little to tackle the number of repossessions. The FSA said in a report today it will impose “affordability tests” on all borrowers, effectively banning self-certified mortgages and further restricting credit for [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING July 12, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES RIO CLASHEs OVER THE RIGHTS TO MONGOLIAN COPPER MINE Tensions are rising between Rio Tinto and Canada’s Ivanhoe Mines over rights to a world-class copper deposit in Mongolia as the multinational mining group releases hundreds of millions of dollars to develop the mine over which it has limited control. Ivanhoe, which owns the [...]
London’s bonus culture is already overhauled July 7, 2010 EVEN before yesterday’s vote by European Union lawmakers to restrict bankers’ bonuses, City institutions had been working to address regulatory concerns about the role of the bonus culture in the financial crisis. The EU legislation – expected to be ratified by the European Council of Ministers later today – is likely to raise the bar [...]
E&Y to get its first non-exec July 4, 2010 ERNST & YOUNG is to appoint non-executive directors to its global advisory board, becoming the first of the big four auditors to announce its plans to fall in with the new audit code. The firm will announce the names of the four directors after the summer, and will go beyond the requirements of this year’s [...]
New code pressures investors to engage July 1, 2010 SHAREHOLDERS will have to take more responsibility for the companies they invest following today’s publication of the first ever Stewardship Code by the Financial Reporting Council (FRC). The new code aims to create more transparency about how investors oversee the companies they own. FRC chairman Baroness Hogg said she hoped the new code would be [...]
WHAT DOES THE NEW CODE MEAN? July 1, 2010 Q.What is the Stewardship Code? A.The Stewardship Code, the first of its kind for the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), seeks to create greater transparency around the way investors oversee the companies they own by encouraging better dialogue between shareholders and company boards. Q.what does the frc hope to achieve? A.The FRC hopes that the new [...]
Accountants back report by regulators June 30, 2010 ACCOUNTANTS say they are willing to consider whether the current audit model needs to evolve to meet changing market needs, following a recent report by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) saying that the profession had not been sceptical enough about the financial firms it audited in the run up to the banking crisis. The City [...]
Auditors must learn to articulate their value June 30, 2010 If there is to be a positive legacy of the financial crisis, it must be in the lessons that market participants have learned from extremely challenging times. Bank auditors have been no exception. The Financial Services Authority (FSA) and Financial Reporting Council have set out their thoughts on the auditors’ role and the contribution they [...]