In this section of the website, we highlight 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.

	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
	Corporate Governance (A Special Report) --- The Global Agenda: Wherever investors go, demands for better governance follow
Wall Street Journal 17 October 2005 - As big investors scour the globe for better returns, they're also pushing for, and winning, changes in corporate-governance practices. From Asia to Europe to Latin America, institutional investors are pressing to protect the independence of auditors and board directors, simplify shareholder voting rights and shed more light on executive compensation packages. "More and more investing is global," says Christian Strenger, chairman of the International Corporate Governance Network. "There's hardly a capital market today that doesn't have at least 25% nondomestic ownership, so the need for improvement in corporate standards is certainly global ....more
	John Plender: Battle for truth in European accounts
Financial Times 10 July 2005 - The European Union’s adoption of international accounting standards has not been a happy process. At the annual conference of the International Corporate Governance Network last week, some of the accountancy profession’s heavyweights counter-attacked. Under existing case law, they argued, a true and fair verdict requires compliance with accounting standards, so the difference between the US and UK form of words is far less than it seems. ....more
	EU commissioner confident on audit reform compromise
Financial Times 9 July 2005 - Charlie McCreevy, European Union internal market commissioner, signalled yesterday that he was confident a compromise solution would soon be secured over proposals on the introduction of audit committees. Mr McCreevy was due to address the annual conference of the International Corporate Governance Network, but could not travel to London following Thursday's terrorist attacks. Many European countries do not have a culture of company audit committees, while others, such as the UK, eschew a mandatory approach in favour of a "comply or explain" regime. ....more
	Sarbanes-Oxley reforms 'go too far', says author
Financial Times 8 July 2005 - Congressman Michael Oxley told a London conference that the legislation "was not a perfect document" because it had been rushed through in the "hothouse atmosphere" following the collapse of WorldCom. Mr Oxley told the International Corporate Governance Network annual conference: "After WorldCom happened it was difficult to legislate responsibly in that type of hot-house atmosphere. But I am proud of the bill. Compliance [with it] is an investment in the strength of the US capital markets." ....more
	Judge attacks Sarbanes-Oxley legislation
Financial Times 5 July 2005 - An influential US judge launched a ferocious attack on the Sarbanes-Oxley legislation on Tuesday and warned federal legislators to “stay in [their] lane” and leave corporation law to individual states. His attack was coolly received by Anne Simpson, chief executive of the International Corporate Governance Network. She said: “Investors in US companies have very few rights to hold management to account such as the ability to nominate board directors. We need the tools to act.” ....more
	A woman of principle: Internal audit is critical to company health. Anne Simpson is making sure that boards get the message
Internal Auditing & Business Risk 1 May 2005 - Anne Simpson wants to make sure that investors are engaging with companies at the right level when it comes to corporate governance. She explains why she thinks that principles are more effective than rules for ensuring good corporate behaviour ....more
	Caterpillar caught in activist crossfire
Financial Times 4 April 2005 - There are few rules governing what happens should a director fail to win a majority vote. Should he resign immediately? Who should replace him? Fortunately for investors, the issues are being discussed at the American Bar Association, which has set up a taskforce under retired judge Norman Veasey to consider reform of director elections. The working group was set up in response to pressure from the International Corporate Governance Network, after the SEC failed to reform director nominations. ....more
	Europe's modest gain at US expense: Competition for listings hots up
Financial Times 27 March 2005 - Alastair Ross Goobey, chairman of the International Corporate Governance Network, compares the impact of Sarbanes-Oxley with the introduction of the US witholding tax in the 1960s, which drove capital out of the US into the the fledgling eurobond market. He argues that the US legislative response to the recent corporate scandals is a shot in the foot that provides London with a great opportunity to become the location of choice for international listings. ....more
	Investors seek to improve US rights: Pressure in the US by a group of global investors has led to the creation of a legal taskforce that could strengthen shareholder rights
Financial Times 14 February 2005 - A working group, convened by the American Bar Association (ABA), will examine how to update its flagship corporate code which is followed by a majority of US states…. The working group includes Peggy Foran, company secretary of Pfizer and co-chair of the ABA committee. Ms Foran was recently elected to the board of the ICGN, which is supplying the ABA with examples of how shareholder rights are exercised in Europe and Australia. ....more
	Investor association revels in its renewed sense of mission
Financial News 31 January 2005 - Any company director or government official would do well to listen to an investor association with combined assets of more than $10 trillion (€7.7 trillion), particularly if that organisation has recently resolved to make more of a splash. The International Corporate Governance Network, which has 300 members in 30 countries, is 10 years old this year but has seldom wielded the influence that its size might suggest. That may change following the network’s appointment last year of Anne Simpson as its first chief executive. ....more
	There's pragmatism and pragmatism
FT fund management 23 January 2005 - To what extent are shareholders who claim to be adopting a more pragmatic approach to corporate governance following that definition from the Concise Oxford Dictionary? Anne Simpson, the new executive director of the International Corporate Governance Network, recognises that the industry must ensure its own house is in order. But this does not detract from another of her goals: to improve the rights of investors in US companies. ....more
	New Movement Afoot To Democratize Director Elections
Wall Street Journal 21 January 2005 - For the moment, Washington D.C. regulators appear to have stalled out on new rules aimed at giving shareholders more power to nominate directors alongside management picks. But from an office near London's Regent's Park, a separate movement is afoot to give investors a bigger voice in electing U.S. corporate directors. The International Corporate Governance Network is in the early stages of convening a working group to explore how to change the typical U.S. board-voting scheme, considered blatantly anti-democratic by shareholder rights advocates. ....more
	Investors find friends in unexpected places Outbreak of virtue on Wall Street. Really.
Financial Times 20 December 2004 - Equally striking during the year is how the traditionally pro-management courts in Delaware have been kinder to shareholders. And now the International Corporate Governance Network, under Anne Simpson, the new executive director, is moving to convene a working party to explore with Delaware judges the scope for modernising the absurd US board election rules whereby a vote against the board's nominees is non-binding. ....more
	Veteran activist sets sights on shareholder rights
Financial Times 16 December 2004 - Anne Simpson is a woman on a mission with $10,000bn of funds to back her up. The veteran shareholder activist started work last month as the first executive director of the International Corporate Governance Network, an influential grouping that represents the world's biggest investment funds. ....more
	Delaware judges to hold talks on stronger shareholder rights
Financial Times 16 December 2004 - In a recent change of policy, the ICGN, whose members include leading US investors such as Calpers, has opted to lobby individual states on the issue. In October, the Delaware judiciary hosted an ICGN conference attended by senior state judges, including Stephen Lamb. ....more
	Profiles: Prominent figures in corporate governance
Financial Times 15 December 2004 - Bob Monks, Jaap Winter, Alastair Ross Goobey, Professor Hasung Jung and Peter Clapman are profiled ....more
	ICGN Conference, Brazil: Attack on vote apathy
Financial Times 11 July 2004 - Institutional investors who do not exercise their right to vote at annual company meetings "should be named and shamed", according to a representative of the Financial Services Authority. Ken Rushton, the head of the FSA's listings review, told delegates at the International Corporate Governance Network annual conference in Rio de Janeiro last week that, on average, UK companies received only 60 per cent of shareholder votes at company meetings. ....more
	Watchdog hits at US groups over options
Financial Times 8 July 2004 - Many US companies are "gaming" the system of executive pay by granting stock options before the release of favourable earnings announcements, according to a report backed by leading global institutional investors. Members of the International Corporate Governance Network, which is holding its annual meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, are so concerned by the practice that they plan to force companies to grant stock options at the same time each year. ....more
	Corporate governance takes centre stage in Rio
Financial Times 6 July 2004 - International corporate governance will come of age this week as the world's leading activists congregate in Rio de Janeiro. The occasion is the 10th annual conference of the International Corporate Governance Network, which heads to a developing country for the first time. ....more