In this section of the website, we highlight recent media coverage of ICGN. To see the full text, click 'more'. Please note that many of the articles are available only through subscription to the newspaper or journal in question.

	Sovereign wealth funds offer a vigorous defense
Pensions & Investments 25 March 2008 - Representatives from several sovereign wealth funds defended their roles as long-term global institutional investors at a conference earlier this month even as international political pressure mounts to better regulate the increasingly influential players. Gathered at the International Corporate Governance Network's 2008 midyear meeting in Gothenburg on March 5, speakers said recent criticisms of SWFs by the U.S. government and the European Commission might be partly driven by protectionism and, therefore, might not be in the interest of the global economy. SWF officials also called on the International Monetary Fund, Washington, and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, Paris — both of which plan to release voluntary codes of conduct for SWFs within the next several weeks — to take a balanced approach in any attempts to regulate the funds. “You have to ask, "Has any (of the) financial markets faced chaos due to the activity of a sovereign wealth fund?'” said Mahmoud Al Kanderi, director of the legal and compliance department of the Kuwait Investment Authority, Kuwait City. “Are you sure that what you're asking is not motivated by political factors?” ....more
	Stop being so passive, sovereign funds urged
The Guardian 6 March 2008 - Cash-rich sovereign wealth funds from Asia and the Middle East should shake off their passive approach to investments and take a more active role in scrutinising corporate decision-making in western capital markets, according to one of the world's largest institutional investor forums. Speaking at a conference on sovereign wealth funds in Sweden, Peter Montagnon, chairman of the International Corporate Governance Network, said: "Being purely passive is perhaps not helpful to their objectives in the long run. Using your rights as an owner is an important way of securing value. "If you refuse to use your [shareholder] vote, the risk is you effectively end up supporting bad boards." ....more
	Governance group ICGN lambasts restrictions for sovereign wealth funds
Thomson Investment Management News 5 March 2008 - The chairman of the International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN) has spoken out against regulation to restrict sovereign wealth funds' investments and has urged pension funds and other investors to view their emergence as an opportunity for cooperation. Speaking at the ICGN conference in Sweden, Peter Montagnon told delegates that sovereign wealth funds should be 'welcome' in financial markets but also called for the countries sponsoring the giant investment vehicles to open up to foreign competition. 'Their presence offers an opportunity for collaboration with traditional investors in a quest to generate value through responsible investment,' Montagnon said on behalf of the organisation which includes members from 40 countries, representing 15 trln usd in assets under management. 'The ICGN is opposed to regulation that would restrict their access and deny them opportunities to invest,' added Montagnon, who is also director of investment affairs at the Association of British Insurers. 'While we would like to see our markets open to sovereign wealth funds and will use our influence wherever possible to ensure that this happens, we also believe it is important that their own home markets are also open to international investors,' he said. ....more
	Investors talk to sovereign wealth funds
The Guardian 18 February 2008 - Major institutional investors plan to urge the sovereign wealth funds (SWF) that have propped up the world's banking system to be transparent in their activities and conscientious shareholders. The international investment community is planning to meet some of the leading sovereign wealth funds next month to discuss their investment strategies and their attitudes to key corporate governance issues regarding such matters as boardroom structure and executive pay.....The investors, who will meet through the International Corporate Governance Network, are not expected to back calls from some politicians and bankers for a new regulatory regime for sovereign wealth funds. Instead they will urge the sovereign wealth funds to be transparent in their motivations. Peter Montagnon, chairman of the ICGN, said sovereign wealth funds could do one of three things: be passive, politically motivated, or be conscientious investors. He urged them to be the latter ....more
	Statliga storspelare till svensk fondträff
Dagens Industri 17 December 2007 - Den 5 mars samlas världens största statliga investeringsfonder på kongress i Göteborg. Då kan Sverige räkna med besök från stora och högst aktuella spelare som Dubai, Qatar,Norge,Ryssland och Singapore. Mötet, det första i sitt slag, sker för att diskutera statliga investeringsfonders, så kallade Sovereing Wealth Funds, hantering av bolagsstyrning på global basis. De mest inflytesrika statliga investeringfonderna kommer vara på plats. ....more
	SEC/proxy voting
Financial Times Lex column 26 November 2007 - To hear the US Chamber of Commerce tell it, the Securities and Exchange Commission must act this week to prevent activist investors clogging up annual shareholder proxy votes with proposals about directors and even – gasp – their own candidates for the board. The business group argues that access to the proxy would give unions, hedge funds and environmental groups too much power. The ramifications are potentially so dire that companies might move abroad to avoid them, one lobbyist told Congress. ....more
	Pension funds battle SEC over proxy access
Financial Times 18 November 2007 - Some of the largest US and UK pension funds will on Monday launch a last-ditch attempt to persuade Christopher Cox, Securities and Exchange Commission chairman, to halt a vote they fear will block shareholders’ ability to influence the composition of company boards. The issue of whether and how shareholders can place their nominees for director elections on US company ballots - known as “proxy access” - has become the biggest test of Mr Cox’s ability to negotiate a path between the opposing interests of US business and shareholder activists. ....more
	SEC Chair's Proxy Agenda Draws Debate
Washington Post 15 November 2007 - The leader of the Securities and Exchange Commission told law-makers yesterday that he is poised to move ahead with a controversial shareholder rights proposal drawing sharp criticism from Democratic lawmakers and officials from unions and pension funds. Christopher Cox testified at a contentious Senate Banking committee hearing that the SEC needs to vote soon to clear up confusion over proxy rules - even though one of the two Democrats on the five-member commission has resigned and the other is on her way out the door. ....more
	SEC Chairman's Proxy Pitch Loses Steam
Wall Street Journal 15 November 2007 - One of Christopher Cox's top priorities is hanging together by a thread. The Securities and Exchange Commission chairman has been trying for most of this year to give shareholders more power to influence the election of company directors. His various proposals have come under fire from companies, investors, Democratic senators and even an SEC commissioner. Yesterday, testifying before a Senate panel, Mr. Cox said he still wants to expand shareholders' role in director elections, an issue known as "proxy access." ....more
	US SEC To Vote Thursday On Use Of International-Accounting Rules By Foreign Cos
Dow Jones 15 November 2007 - U.S. securities regulators will meet Thursday to consider a half-dozen changes affecting mutual-fund disclosure, small business capital raising, and accounting requirements for foreign companies whose shares are traded in the U.S. In a sweeping change, the Securities and Exchange Commission will vote on whether to scrap a long-standing requirement for non-U.S. companies to report financial results to U.S. investors using U.S. accounting rules. The idea, which the SEC floated this summer, would permit such firms to issue results in the U.S. using international accounting, provided they follow rules set by the International Accounting Standards Board. A separate discussion on whether to allow U.S. firms to report results using international accounting, also raised by the SEC this year, isn't on the agenda on Thursday. ....more
	FASB grants partial delay on fair value
Financial Week 14 November 2007 - The Financial Accounting Standards Board voted to defer the implementation date of FAS 157, its rule for how to mark to market assets and liabilities, for all non-financial items except for those already reported at fair value on a recurring basis. The accounting standard, which FASB voted not to entirely defer last month, goes into effect for all companies starting tomorrow. It articulates a new framework for determining fair-value measurements of assets and liabilities, though it does not require that such measurements be made in any new areas. ....more
	SEC may amend proxy proposals
The Deal.com 14 November 2007 - Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox told lawmakers Wednesday, Nov. 14, he isn't wedded to the controversial approach he has drafted to clarify how shareholders can nominate directors to a corporation's board. Cox said that the rule making was still "a work in progress," adding that the SEC could "go back to the drawing board and take a fresh look at this issue." For now he is asking his fellow commissioners to choose from two opposing proposals. One would give investors no new right to place director nominees on company ballots and would continue to force them to promote candidates outside of the proxy process. The other would create a two-year process that would allow listing of one noncompany candidate. ....more
	Call to postpone SEC 'proxyaccess vote'
Financial Times 30 October 2007 - A decision before the US Securities and Ex-change Commission on whether and how to allow shareholders a greater say in influencing the composition of boards should be deferred, Annette Nazareth, an SEC commissioner, said yesterday. "Under the circumstances, this seems a particularly inopportune time for the commission to be considering issues of this magnitude and divisiveness," Ms Nazareth told a meeting of the International Corporate Governance Network. The "proxy access" issue has become the most contentious at the SEC in years, echoing the disruption at the regulator when it last tried to fix the issue under chairman William Donaldson. ....more
	Investoren wettern gegen Steinbrück (Investors scold Steinbrueck)
Handelsblatt 15 October 2007 - Die Proteste internationaler Anleger gegen das vom Bundesfinanzministerium entworfene Risikobegrenzungsgesetz werden lauter. In einem Brief an Finanzminister Peer Steinbrück (SPD), der dem Handelsblatt vorliegt, wendet sich jetzt das International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN) gegen die in dem Gesetzentwurf vorgesehenen Maßnahmen gegen abgestimmtes Vorgehen von Aktionären. Das ICGN vertritt institutionelle Anleger aus 40 Ländern mit einem Gesamtvermögen von rund elf Billionen Euro. (International protests against the Finance Ministry's new law on risk protection are getting louder. In a letter to Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck, which Handelsblatt has seen, the International Corporate Governance Network has come out against the measures on acting in concert contained in the proposed law. The ICGN represents international investors from 40 countries with funds under management of around €11 trillion) ....more
	Berlin warned on investor curbs
Financial Times 15 October 2007 - Investors have warned Berlin that its plan to curb co-operation between shareholders could outlaw activism, end responsible share ownership and undermine confidence in Europe's biggest economy. The International Corporate Governance Network, whose members manage more than $15,000bn in assets, has written to Peer Steinbrück, finance minister, voicing concern at rules to be published this month designed to stop shareholders working together. Peter Montagnon, ICGN chairman, said: "If this law is passed, it is not likely to add to confidence in the German market." ....more
	System flaws trip up possible voters
FT fund management 20 August 2007 - It would have been hard to stir up much interest in a code of best practice for the mechanics of shareholder voting until recently....The ICGN argues that the flipside of shareholders having rights as company owners is that they also have responsibilities. And "responsible ownership requires high standards of transparency, probity and care on the part of institutions". "[Institutions should] not act as absentee landlords, especially when they hold significant stakes in companies," said Peter Montagnon, new chairman of the ICGN whose members met in Cape Town last month. However, techniques such as stock lending can make it difficult for investors to exercise their responsibilities, confusing market authorities, investors and companies alike over where voting rights attached to lent or borrowed stock ultimately reside. The confusion can be acute during takeover situations. In principle, says the ICGN, shareholders must apply consistent and clear policies when shares are lent, withheld from lending, or recalled. And shareholders should ensure votes are not cast against their economic interests. "The lack of transparency continues to be the greatest problem bedevilling lending activity," said the ICGN. ....more
	Montagnon appointed chairman of ICGN
Financial Director 24 July 2007 - The board of the International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN) has appointed Peter Montagnon as its chairman. Montagnon, who is director of investment affairs at the Association of British Insurers (ABI), was elected to the post at the ICGN’s 12th annual conference in Cape Town, South Africa, earlier this month. Commenting on his appointment, Montagnon said: ‘The debate on corporate governance is becoming more international, and it’s a great honour from me - and for the ABI - to have been elected to this role. 'The strength of the ICGN is the commitment of its members and its executive director, Anne Simpson. I am looking forward to working with them to promote high standards of corporate governance which in turn should help companies generate long-term value for investors.’ ....more
	Rethink is urged over accounting proposals
Financial Times 11 July 2007 - By Kate Burgess in Cape Town and Jennifer Hughes in London - International and US accounting standard setters should rethink their goal of converging the two systems into a single global code, a leading accounting regulator has said. Paul Boyle, head of the UK Financial Reporting Council, said the benefits of one accounting language might not outweigh the costs of time and money when there were other pressing issues to focus on, such as improving existing standards. The International Accounting Standards Board has been working closely with its US counterpart, the Federal Accounting Standards Board, on developing a single system. In theory, the benefits of one set of standards include easier comparability for cross-border investors and simplification for multinational companies. Mr Boyle, speaking to an audience of international shareholders at a corporate governance conference, said the case for convergence had been stronger when there were multiple systems. ....more
	In search of a cure for corporate vote-rigging
Financial Times 10 July 2007 - Most of us detest the idea of vote-rigging so it is good that the world's biggest institutions are pressing for simplification of voting structures and greater transparency in stock lending and borrowing, both areas where investors can garner voting rights out of proportion with their economic interest and out of whack with the long-term interests of other shareholders. The International Corporate Governance Network, which is pursuing these initiatives, doesn't want to regulate either practice out of existence. But it does want to ensure that other investors know more about what is going on. The "one share, one vote" principle won the support of a resounding 86 per cent of delegates at last week's ICGN conference. That should be heard in Brussels, where Charlie McCreevy, the internal market commissioner, went a bit wobbly last month, after receiving a report that suggested "control-enhancing" voting structures did not destroy shareholder value. But while rococo voting structures are not unknown in the UK, many have been reformed away. They are now rightly thought of as a "continental" problem - as suspect as man-bags and siestas. ....more
	Investors call for clarity on stock lending
Financial Times 9 July 2007 - By Kate Burgess in Cape Town - An influential group of some of the world’s leading shareholders has called on regulators to impose a new regime of disclosure and transparency on the opaque activity of stock lending and borrowing. The International Corporate Governance Network, whose members include some of the biggest pension funds and shareholder groups in the US, Asia and Europe, says regulators should force funds to make detailed disclosures of sale and repurchase agreements of shares and other derivative-based positions. The ICGN has drawn up a code of best practice on stock lending in all jurisdictions, urging investors, companies and supervisory authorities to support it. It is the first time that international shareholders have come together to agree a set of principles for stock lending, an activity which, combined with the use of derivatives, has become prevalent as a way of allowing hedge funds and other market participants to hedge positions, go short by selling borrowed stock or cover short positions. ....more
	ICGN urges ‘one share, one vote’
Financial Times 8 July 2007 - By Kate Burgess in Johannesburg and Tobias Buck in Brussels - A powerful group of some of the world’s biggest investors called on the European Commission to respond to their concerns over distortions to shareholder democracy in European Union member states. The International Corporate Governance Network called on the commission to require more disclosure and transparency from companies where, for example, multiple votes or priority voting rights are attached to some classes of share. ....more
	Manuel waxes lyrical on corporate governance
Mail & Guardian online 6 July 2007 - Finance Minister Trevor Manuel on Wednesday called for a deepening of corporate governance and accountability, saying it was necessary to understand that sound corporate governance was not enough. Manuel was addressing the annual conference of the International Corporate Governance Network at the International Convention Centre in Cape Town. He said there was a shared interest as citizens, as responsible inhabitants of an abused planet, in being partners in the challenge of creating a fairer world in which opportunity and assets were more broadly held. "These shared interests will not be addressed by corporations acting and keeping with their narrow self interest, nor can they be addressed by governments acting alone or even by governments and public international organisations acting in concert internationally." ....more
	South Africa: Corporate Governance Needs Greater Transparency, Accountability
allAfrica.com 5 July 2007 - Greater transparency and accountability in South Africa's corporate governance would boost economic growth, says the International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN), Wednesday. Dr Stephen Davis, of the Millstein Centre for Corporate Governance and Performance at the Yale School of Management in the United States, told BuaNews that South Africa was ready for the kind of activism espoused by the ICGN. The ICGN conferences are held annually and they aim to be "a catalyst for awareness of shareholder activism and the benefits of transparency and accountability to corporations," he said. The host committee of the ICGN wanted to hold this year's conference "in a place where there would be resonance for these ideas ....more
	Simple communication vital in corporate governance
Bua News online 5 July 2007 - Cape Town - Simple and accessible methods of communication are a prerequisite for effective corporate governance, Finance Minister Trevor Manuel told an international conference of institutional investors meeting in Cape Town. Mr Manuel told senior managers from leading investment houses that it was not only the small enterprises which should avoid "unwarranted complexity" when communicating information, but also the " large, many-layered, multi-objective organisations". The Finance Minister's appeal for greater corporate transparency was made at a conference of the International Corporate Governance Network. Organisers are hoping the event will encourage other countries on the African continent to embrace the important aspects of corporate governance in their policies and regulations, said Mr Manuel. Regarding transparency and accountability, Mr Manuel said: "An important point to note was that by keeping issues or options clear and communicating effectively, there was a better prospect of an intelligent discourse and real engagement with responsibilities and alternatives." This was also important in the context of changing accounting and analytical systems which can often be unnecessarily complex and detailed, making the burden of keeping pace "that much more onerous for small firms and for developing countries". ....more
	SA's corporate governance needs greater transparency, accountability
Bua News online 5 July 2007 - By Shaun Benton Cape Town - Greater transparency and accountability in South Africa's corporate governance would boost economic growth, says the International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN), Wednesday. Dr Stephen Davis, of the Millstein Centre for Corporate Governance and Performance at the Yale School of Management in the United States, told BuaNews that South Africa was ready for the kind of activism espoused by the ICGN. The ICGN conferences are held annually and they aim to be "a catalyst for awareness of shareholder activism and the benefits of transparency and accountability to corporations," he said. The host committee of the ICGN wanted to hold this year's conference "in a place where there would be resonance for these ideas [around transparency, accountability and shareholder activism]". The ICGN was enthusiastic about holding its 12th annual conference in Cape Town this year because South Africa has been a leader in defining standards of corporate governance. ....more
	Manuel: Deepen corporate governance
Business Report 4 July 2007 - Finance Minister Trevor Manuel on Wednesday called for a deepening of corporate governance and accountability, saying it was necessary to understand that sound corporate governance was not enough. Manuel was addressing the annual conference of the International Corporate Governance Network at the International Convention Centre in Cape Town. He said there was shared interest as citizens, as responsible inhabitants of an abused planet, in being partners in the challenge of creating a fairer world in which opportunity and assets were more broadly held. "These shared interests will not be addressed by corporations acting and keeping with their narrow self interest, nor can they be addressed by governments acting alone or even by governments and public international organisations acting in concert internationally." They also required a broader concept of corporate responsibility than the idea of governance that currently enjoyed popular currency. ....more
	Streng reels kan direkteure afskrik
SAKE 24 (Beeld) 3 July 2007 - Maatskappye moet ordentlike landsburgers wees en die mense wat maatskappye beheer, het n pligom hulk so te bestuur. SO meen oudregter Mervyn King, voorsitter van die Kingkommissie oor korporatiewe bestuur en adjunk-president van die instituut van dlrekteure (IOD). King Is een van die sprekers by die l2de konferensie en algemene jaarvergaderlng van die Internasionale Korporatiewe Bestuurnetwerk (ICGN) wat van more tot Vrydag in die Kaapstadse Internasionale Konferenslesentrum plaasvlnd. ....more
	Corporate activism ‘pioneer’ sets sights on US
Financial Times 10 May 2007 - She might not manage billions of dollars or fight to join company boards but Anne Simpson is arguably the world’s most important shareholder activist. While the likes of Carl Icahn and Eric Knight are prepared to use their positions to engineer battles with individual companies, she operates at the pinnacle of a global movement whose victories have enabled activists to ply their trade.Ms Simpson is the executive director of the London-based International Corporate Governance Network, an influential lobby group representing the world’s biggest institutional investors, which boast combined assets under management of $10,000bn. ....more
	Scourge of the boardrooms
Financial Times 2 May 2007 - Only the bravest chief executives dare confront Mark Anson, their cerebral counterpart at Hermes, the UK-based activist fund manager....In the US, Mr Anson has derided boardroom pay policies at UnitedHealth Group and proposed a resolution at this month’s annual meeting. Improving the ability of investors, especially in US companies, to control executive remuneration remains high on his reform agenda. He is also chairman of the International Corporate Governance Network, the activist grouping whose members manage combined assets exceeding $10,000bn. ....more
	The Voter Unrest of the Big-Investor Kind Global Money Managers Urge Greater Oversight, Even of Their Industries
Wall Street Journal (Asia, Europe and US Editions) 18 April 2007 - management is calling for stepped-up focus on corporate governance -- not just in the companies in which they invest, but also within their own industries. The International Corporate Governance Network, which has members in 38 countries, issued a set of governing principles urging greater oversight of how votes are cast in corporate elections. "Institutions risk failing in their responsibilities . . . if they disregard serious corporate-governance concerns that may affect the long-term value of their investment," a new report from the ICGN says. ....more
	Regeln für internationale institutionelle Investoren Prinzipien für gute Unternehmensführung
Börsen-Zeitung 18 April 2007 - Der internationale Zusammenschluss institutionale Investoren, International Corporate Gobernance Network (ICGN), har Standards vorgestellt, nach denen sich die Organisation von Vermogensverwaltern richten soll... ....more
	Governance code for investor body
Financial Times 18 April 2007 - An international body of institutional investors has formulated a corporate governance code aimed not at companies but at its own members. A statement by the International Corporate Governance Network - which represents institutions with some $10,000bn (€7,500bn, £5,000bn) in funds under management - establishes principles for institutional investors to manage conflicts of interest and pursue activist investment strategies responsibly. There is concern that institutional investors are demanding greater transparency and tougher governance from the companies in which they invest compared with the disclosure they offer their own clients. ....more
	Proactive activists
Financial Times 17 April 2007 - by Andrew Hill (Lombard) - Institutional investors, increasingly fond of attacking poor corporate governance at quoted companies, are turning the spotlight on themselves. The International Corporate Governance Network, which represents investors managing $10,000bn (£4,990bn) of client funds, has devised a code of principles covering both internal governance and activist engagement with companies. It has taken a year to agree a version that suits the body's broad membership. ....more
	U.S. Capital Markets Need Regulatory Relief: letter to the editor from Ira M. Millstein, Senior Associate Dean for Corporate Governance Yale School of Management New Haven and Anne Simpson, ICGN Executive Director
Wall Street Journal 24 March 2007 - While the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's report on financial regulation constructively narrows the broad recommendations of the report of the Committee on Capital Markets Regulation, known as the Scott report, we believe the chamber omits the critical need for a "grand bargain" ("Panel Urges Steps to Boost Allure of U.S. Markets," page one, March 12). U.S. capital markets are under pressure from overseas competition. While it's clear that companies are going abroad not just to flee the U.S. but to take advantage of other markets, it would seem that the costs of complying with U.S. law, such as Sarbanes-Oxley and other enforcement practices, have driven away companies. More will follow unless the regulatory burden is lightened. A reasonable discussion has ensued to look at what regulation can do well, and what it can't. One thing regulation can't do is substitute for the role of shareholders. Liability, regulation, even litigation, will never be as effective as letting the market contract privately. While the chamber deserves a cheer for trying to make the lofty ambitions of the Scott report more practical, they have left behind a critical balancing feature captured by the "grand bargain" the Scott report posed. That bargain was to lift the burden of regulation, where it could be shown to be onerous and not useful, and in return, shareholders would be given a tool kit to look after themselves, just as they are in most developed markets around the world. ....more
	The cost to Europe of America's class action addiction by Peter Montagnon, ICGN Board Member and Chair of the ICGN Shareholder Responsibilities Committee
Financial Times 5 January 2007 - One new year resolution for those responsible for the capital markets in the US must be to repair the damage they have done to their own ability to compete with their excessive zeal for regulation and litigation. This is a preoccupation not only of Hank Paulson, the Treasury secretary, but is widely shared, as the deliberations of the great and the good on the independent, bipartisan committee oncapital markets regulation show. ....more
	Corporate governance: a long way to go
Financial Times Special Report: Investing in South 4 December 2006 - ICGN Board Member Professor Hasung Jang, Professor of Finance at the Korea University Business School writes in the Financial Times Special Report on South Korea about significant improvements in corporate governance in Korea although he believes another round of reform is needed, especially for the chaebol. ICGN will be holding its 2008 Annual Conference and Annual General Meeting in Seoul, South Korea. ....more
	Hank Paulson's flattery may breed complacency
Financial Times 27 November 2006 - ... Hank Paulson, the US Treasury Secretary, is encouraging the complacency by hinting last week that the US could learn from the UK model of financial regulation. Just to focus on the capital market issues, I would not deny that there are positive things to be said on the British side. The UK principles-based approach to regulation is infinitely preferable to heavy-handed legislation, although there is more to be said for that great American curate's egg, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, than its UK critics would allow. The comply or explain way of doing corporate governance is a wonderfully flexible British invention. And as Anne Simpson, executive director of the International Corporate Governance Network, pointed out in the Financial Times last week, UK shareholders are in a much stronger position than their US counterparts to throw out underperforming directors, put forward candidates for the board, present potentially binding resolutions and convene meetings. The UK's emphasis on accountability to shareholders is what enables the comply or explain approach to work. ....more
	UK shareholders pave way for 'light touch' regime: Letter to the Editor from Anne Simpson, ICGN Executive Director
Financial Times 24 November 2006 - Sir, The complexity and costs of US regulation have been the subject of much hand-wringing by companies and advisers, who look longingly at the "light touch" of the UK regime. This is being echoed at high level in recent comments by Hank Paulson, the US Treasury secretary, who is opening a wider debate about the American way. An important difference between the US and British regimes is being overlooked - shareholders. The reason UK regulators can use a "comply or explain" approach to corporate governance is that shareholders are in a position to do something about explanations they do not like. ....more
	India can gain edge with good corp governance - funds
Reuters India 10 November 2006 - Better corporate governance can convince global investors to favour Indian firms over other emerging markets in an era of greater shareholder activism and closer scrutiny of the board room, fund managers said on Friday. There also needed to be better succession planning in Indian firms to avoid messy disputes in family-run companies, the conference on corporate governance heard. "China and Indonesia have the best rules for corporate governance but the worst execution," said Christian Strenger, director of DWS Investment GmbH, the fund management arm of Deutsche Bank. ....more
	Accountancy firms map out new world
Financial Times 8 November 2006 - When Lord Browne, BP chief executive, presented the oil group's annual results to investors in February, he expressed a rising tide of anger over the effect of new accounting standards. "Some would argue that International Financial Reporting Standards neither produce a record of the accountability of management, nor a measure of the changes in the economic value of assets and liabilities," he said. "I would agree with them. What IFRS actually does is make our results more difficult to understand." His words crystallised the discontent of companies. For the first time last week, a powerful coalition of investors - the International Corporate Governance Network - articulated its worries about accounting. And another watershed moment will occur today. ....more
	Investors warn over convergence
Financial Times 6 November 2006 - A powerful coalition of investors has warned it could withdraw its support for the convergence of US and international accounting standards amid concern the project is threatening to weaken corporate financial reporting. The International Corporate Governance Network - headed by Mark Anson, chief executive of Hermes Pensions Management - has sent a forthright letter to the International Accounting Standards Board setting out its fears. ....more
	Corporate governance pioneer spreads the word with clear evidence of value
FTfm 25 September 2006 - Anita Skipper is not one of the big names in fund management but in terms of corporate governance there is arguably no greater single power. If proof were needed, her election to the 12-strong board of the influential International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN) in July should suffice. ....more
	Debate sharpens over shareholders' duties
Financial Times 7 August 2006 - Shareholders are entering a new era of navel gazing. As shareholders step up the pressure on executives to exercise good corporate governance, the focus is turning to how institutional investors govern themselves. A recurring theme underlying many of the sessions at the International Corporate Governance Network conference in Washington last month was how do investment groups, with their myriad clients and investments, manage the inherent conflicts of interest ....more
	S. Korea to host 2008 global conference on corporate governance
Yonhap News 11 July 2006 - South Korea will host the 2008 annual conference of the International Corporate Governance Network, a non-profit organization aimed at exchanging views and researching corporate governance issues worldwide, the nation's stock market operator said Monday. According to the Korea Exchange, the network decided to hold the 13th annual conference in South Korea during its annual meeting from Wednesday to Friday in Washington, D.C. It also appointed Chang Ha-sung, a professor in business administration at Korea University, as the network's director. ....more
	Regulators ‘face challenge posed by multiple ownership’
Financial Times 10 July 2006 - The proliferation of hedge funds, mutual funds and other types of investors as owners of private companies poses a “new challenge” to regulators who must work together to avoid conflicts of interest, the new head of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has warned. “Sometimes cultures clash and regulators have to take account of that,” Mr Gurria told the International Corporate Governance Network’s annual meeting in Washington on Friday. At the same event Al Gore, former US vice-president, now chairman of Generation Investment Management, highlighted what he called a “systemic failure” of large institutional investors of “finding a satisfactory way of factoring in sustainability issues”, such as the environment, into their investment strategies. ....more
	Can Companies Issue Options, Then Good News? --- SEC Is Divided on Practice Known as 'Spring Loading
Wall Street Journal 8 July 2006 - New controversy is brewing over the way companies dole out stock options, this time over the practice of granting them just days before announcing good news -- an effort to give executives a quick profit on paper. Known as "spring loading," such options grants have generated heat in recent days. While spring loading is different from "backdating," another type of options timing, corporate critics blast it as a form of insider trading. Defenders call it a legitimate form of compensation -- and their ranks include a commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission. In a speech Thursday before the International Corporate Governance Network, Republican SEC Commissioner Paul Atkins gave a spirited defense of spring loading, calling it a legitimate and low-cost way for boards to efficiently compensate executives. He rejected claims that such awards amount to trading on inside information. ....more
	SEC member raises debate over stock option practices
Financial Times 7 July 2006 - Members of the Securities and Exchange Commission stirred controversy yesterday over questionable stock options practices as two commissioners issued sharply different views on their legality. Paul Atkins, one of five SEC commissioners, told a gathering of institutional investors that the practice of "spring-loading" executive stock options should not be considered insider trading. ....more
	Atkins Warns of Overreaction in Options Furor
CFO.com 7 July 2006 - A Securities and Exchange Commission overreaction to the ongoing stock-option backdating scandal could threaten legitimate compensation practices, commissioner Paul Atkins warned in a speech on Thursday. Atkins's speech, given at a conference of the International Corporate Governance Network, comes at a time when the SEC and other regulators are investigating more than 50 companies to determine if their granting of stock options was illegal. ....more
	Wolfowitz: Good Governance Attracts Development Capital
Dow Jones Commodities Service 6 July 2006 - World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz on Thursday said governments in developing countries could make gains in cutting poverty simply by requiring more corporate disclosure. "It's true that vast amounts of international capital are available for developing countries to spend on fighting poverty, hunger and disease," Wolfowitz said in a prepared speech to be delivered at a conference on corporate governance. "But to access this capital to attract investors, developing countries, especially the poor ones, will need to improve their investment climates and ensure that these resources private or public are managed in a transparent way." ....more
	Promoting enterprise. ICGN's Anne Simpson on the international face of corporate governance
Chartered Secretary 1 July 2006 - Anne Simpson is a woman on a mission. A mission, she says, to bring together the experience and influence of ICGN members and have a positive impact upon corporate governance across different markets and different territories. ‘ICGN was originally formed in response to the fact that, as capital markets and corporate practices took on a more global aspect, so too did the debates about regulation and best practice,’ says Anne. ‘Since its foundation, its role has broadened: from being an outlet for the exchange of information into a forum in which people from different markets can come together and talk about some of the common problems they face. And what’s come out of that are some of the solutions to those problems ....more
	Global Corporate Governance Group Hosts Annual Meeting in Washington
PR Newswire 30 June 2006 - More than 450 shareholder-rights experts from around the world will gather in Washington DC July 5-7 for the 11th annual conference of the International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN). The theme of the conference, which takes place at the Omni Shoreham Hotel at 2500 Calvert Street, NW, is Creating Value -- Building Trust. London- based ICGN is hosting the event in partnership with the Council of Institutional Investors. ....more
	ICGN proposes universal governance standard
Financial Times 22 May 2006 - A leading international investment body is proposing a new code of practice to encourage a universal standard of good governance among institutional shareholders. The International Corporate Governance Network of the world's leading investment groups has amended and enlarged its 2003 principles outlining the responsibilities of institutional investors and their accountability to their clients. Peter Montagnon, the chairman of the ICGN's shareholder responsibilities' committee as well as director of investment affairs at the Association of British Insurers, said: "Shareholders must recognise they can't have shareholder rights without responsibility." ....more
	EU Seeks to Boost Investor Voting Clout at Companies
Bloomberg.com 6 January 2006 - The European Union proposed to strengthen investor voting rights, especially across borders, to give shareholders more clout in response to scandals including the Parmalat SpA bankruptcy. The proposal, issued formally by the European Commission in Brussels yesterday after months of public consultations, would abolish voting impediments found in several EU countries. Obstacles include share-blocking rules, which bar trading ahead of a shareholder vote, and identification requirements that disallow ballots being cast electronically or by proxy...Investors such as Hermes Pensions Management Ltd. and shareholder groups including the International Corporate Governance Network called for the end of share-blocking. ....more