Corporate governance - Vigil

New federal disclosure requirements and growing shareholder pressure have pushed more Canadian companies to add more women and other diverse candidates to their boards

The Delaware Chancery Court has recently gotten its first look at SPAC governance in the In Re Multiplan Stockholders Litigation case, which is currently pending. The defendants in the case have essentially argued that the conduct of sponsors and boards should be immune to judicial review when they enter into a merger (or “deSPAC”). That would be an unfortunate result for SPAC shareholders, and in our view the wrong answer under Delaware law.

Although “digital transformation” was one of the top business buzzwords of recent years, and many firms attempted it, the reality is that most digital transformations failed to meet expectations.

Europe has overtaken China in creating billion-dollar tech startups, according to a new analysis that points to Europe’s rising status in the field and the effect of Beijing’s crackdown on capitalist entrepreneurialism. Both economies still lag behind the U.S. in creating so-called unicorns.

As a result of both conflicts of interest and simple fiduciary inattention, high fees are a problem in a substantial number of plans. Investors who incur excessive fees may lose tens of thousands of dollars in forgone returns, resulting in the need for those employees to spend additional years in the workforce prior to being able to retire.

Digital disruption is sweeping the enterprise landscape, replacing or radically transforming long-established business beliefs and practices. Besides creating new efficiencies, opportunities, and even entire markets, digital transformation has also generated a number of major misconceptions.

To celebrate our 45th anniversary, we’ve updated our Timeline of Corporate Governance, which has appeared throughout the years in our pages. Directors & Boards was founded during the creation and passage of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which we believe to be the legislation that began the modern era of corporate governance responsibilities. We’ve continued to advocate for excellence in corporate governance through Sarbanes-Oxley, Dodd-Frank and the vigorous focus on ESG and DEI. While this timeline covers the past 45 years, former editor-in-chief Jim Kristie went back as far as 1912 in his first Timeline, which was published in our Fall 1997 issue.

Blockchain.com, a leading cryptocurrency services provider, announced on Tuesday that it had acquired SeSocio, an Argentinean crypto company. The manoeuvre is part of Blockchain.com’s expansion efforts across the Latin American region, according to the press release.

Over the past five years, cultural, legislative, and governance factors have strongly influenced board diversity resulting in an increase of women directors serving on U.S. public company boards.

Twitter Inc.’s newly appointed chief executive, Parag Agrawal, is shaking up the company’s leadership team less than a week into the job in a bid to quickly spur changes.

The social-media platform best known for its microblogging feature said the executive changes were aimed at boosting operational efficiency, as well as increasing accountability and speed, according to a regulatory filing.

State Street Global Advisors is evolving its proactive and targeted approach to engagement, prioritizing climate change, human capital management (HCM) and diversity equity and inclusion, and expanding its stewardship team

While many ESG trends continued in 2021, the past 12 months also saw landmark events, accelerating regulatory attention and a heightened public awareness not present in previous years. CCI editors provide their rundown of the top ESG articles of 2021 below.

Hedge fund Elliott Management has called for sweeping changes at Scottish energy group SSE, including the appointment of two new independent directors, in a searing attack on SSE’s energy transition strategy.

Westland Insurance Group Ltd. has announced the acquisition of two brokerages in the Canadian Prairies: Church Eaton Insurance of Calgary and Hook Lafrance Insurance in Regina.

American Airlines Group Inc. Chief Executive Doug Parker will step down next year after two decades running airlines, handing the reins to a longtime lieutenant as the company begins to emerge from the pandemic.

Samsung Electronics Co., in a surprise move, replaced the heads of its three major business units and merged the company’s mobile and consumer electronics businesses into a single unit.

While corporate data centers supported by managed infrastructure services were once in the background supporting business operations, they have now moved to the forefront of strategic planning and targeted investment decisions.  Infrastructure and operations (I&O) models must change to empower businesses to embrace the digital age, innovate, and integrate their cloud-first strategies.

Innovative minds in financial services will leverage this new infrastructure for Canadian consumers, and change our relationship with money. How will credit unions, a key competitor to the banks, effectively meet this challenge and continue to ensure that the needs of their members are met on Main Street and on the Financial Superhighway?

For the 20th year in a row, Report on Business has rated the work of Canada’s corporate boards using a rigorous set of governance criteria designed to go far beyond minimum mandatory rules imposed by regulators.

Today’s increased corporate focus on climate change, social justice, diversity and inclusion, and overall employee wellness corresponds with an added company stakeholder push to strengthen environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG)—with particular emphasis on an organization’s stance on its corporate responsibility and sustainability.

Kohl's Corp  (KSS) - Get Kohl's Corporation Report shares jumped higher Monday as the retailer faced renewed pressure from activist investors to consider separating its e-commerce division from its legacy business.