The Federal Court of Australia has released long-awaited rules that require companies involved in certain legal disputes to exchange documents in a searchable, electronic format. The “e-discovery” move is part of a government effort to overhaul Australia’s legal system—it wants to reduce compliance costs and make the country an easier place for foreign companies to […]
Global Glimpses
Posted inInternal Controls
U.K. Regulator to Investors: Ask Tougher Governance Qs
Institutional investors must do more to hold companies to account and question them about their corporate governance practices, according to the chief executive of the U.K.’s Financial Services Authority, Hector Sants. Speaking at the U.K National Association of Pension Funds’ investment conference, Sants said shareholders must take responsibility—acting on their own and, more importantly, in […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
Italy’s Minority Director Election Laws Explained
Milan law firm Trevisan & Associati has published a briefing note explaining how minority shareholders can use a legal change to appoint directors to Italian company boards. The voting laws are an important corporate governance improvement for Italy, said the firm’s Dario Trevisan. Italian companies tend to be dominated by one or two controlling shareholders, […]
Posted inEurope
Europe’s Private Equity Funds Fight Tougher Regulation
Europe’s private equity industry has offered to follow a new set of professional standards, including a corporate governance code, in an effort to fend off the prospect of tougher regulation from the European Commission. But the European Venture Capital Association’s proposed reforms are still based on a self-regulatory approach. It wants to create its own […]
Posted inEurope
Study: Legal, Regulatory Responses to Pay Rule Concerns
With governments around the world taking action to clamp down on “excessive” executive pay, companies will find it increasingly difficult to maintain a consistent approach to remuneration policy compliance, according to law firm Clifford Chance. The firm has published a briefing note that analyzes the legal and regulatory response to concerns about pay levels in […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
Japan Publishes Draft IFRS Roadmap
Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) has published a draft roadmap that could lead to mandatory use of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in the country. The regulator has proposed allowing some Japanese-listed companies to use IFRS on a voluntary basis from the financial year ending March 31, 2010. It would then decide around 2012 whether […]
Posted inAccounting & Auditing
Europe Puts Audit Inspection Plan on Hold, Blames U.S.
The European Commission has suspended plans that it says would improve the regulation of audit firms, citing a lack of cooperation from the U.S. Charlie McCreevy, the commissioner for the internal market and services, circulated a draft decision in January that would let Europe’s national audit regulators cooperate with their counterparts in the U.S., Japan, […]
Posted inEurope
Failure of Trust Between EU Financial Regulators
A leading shareholder group has called for an inquiry into whether the European Union should create a single financial watchdog, saying that the credit crunch has caused a “failure of trust” between the EU’s national regulators. The Association of British Insurers (ABI) made the call when it launched a plan to help restore confidence and […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
Whistleblower’s Claims Bring Down Top FSA Regulator
The banking crisis has taken the scalp of a high-profile City of London regulator. Sir James Crosby resigned as deputy chairman of the Financial Services Authority after a whistleblower claimed he ignored warnings about poor risk management and internal control in his previous job, as chief executive of HBOS, the state-rescued U.K bank. Paul Moore, […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
U.K. Reviews Governance at Banks
The U.K. government has launched a review of corporate governance practices in the banking sector, saying this “first line of defense” had failed to hold executives to account. The review will look at board-level risk management, the effectiveness of audit committees, whether remuneration policies encourage excessive risk-taking, the levels of skill and experience on bank […]
