Corporate governance - Vigil

Over the last 15 years and especially around the time of the financial crisis, interest in and attention to the investment policies of sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) have grown. According to the SWF Institute, global assets under management by SWFs have exceeded $8 trillion, and the Norway Government Pension Fund Global manages over $1 trillion of wealth

For the first time, in 2020, we see the focus on the “E” and the “S” of environment, social and governance (ESG) as the leading trend globally, including in the United States, where it traditionally has not received as much attention by boards. Indeed, many of the key global trends for 2020, such as board oversight of human capital management (HCM), can be seen as subsets of ESG.

The company's most recent quarter showed growth in most areas, and shares offer a high dividend yield

The role of the board of directors and its committees is rapidly and constantly expanding. New matters seem to arise all the time, and the board is viewed, in the court of public opinion if not in courts of law, as being responsible for everything the company does or does not do. As both a result and an example of this perception of the board’s role, it is not surprising that when anything negative happens to a company, the first question asked is often “Where was the board?”

For the past decade, the debate about the purpose of the corporation and the role of companies and investors in the capital markets has been growing in intensity. What is their role in solving—or contributing to—the problems of short-termism, burgeoning income inequality, environmental degradation and other challenges, and how do governance principles play a role in solving or exacerbating these problems?