Corporate governance - Vigil

Iconik is a new commission-free trading app that allows investors to pool together their voting shares to exert more influence on companies, just like large activist investors and hedge funds.

Waste and recycling platform Rubicon Technologies LLC is merging with a special-purpose acquisition company to go public at a valuation of roughly $2 billion, the companies said.

PwC’s analysis this year explores how investors are securing both climate impact and commercial returns from this emerging asset class, helping keep the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting global warming to below 1.5 degrees Celsius within reach.

Lowe’s sales outlook disappointed investors on Wednesday and raised concerns that the pandemic-fueled boom in do-it-yourself and decorating projects is cooling

Elliott Management’s private equity arm and Francesco Partners will spin out the popular password manager LastPass after taking its owner, Boston-based software group LogMeIn, private for $4.3 billion.

The new rules, amend the federal proxy rules to mandate the use of “universal proxies” in all non-exempt solicitations in connection with contested elections of directors of operating companies. The SEC also amended the proxy rules to enhance disclosure about voting options and voting standards in all director elections.

How companies determine executive compensation plays a critical role in corporate governance by helping recruit, motivate, and retain key employees. Not surprisingly, it has attracted broad attention from academics, investors, regulators, and the general public. In a recent study, we introduce a toolset for extracting relevant information from narrative disclosures and seek to provide novel insights into the compensation-setting process and facilitate further research on firms’ compensation decisions.

Immediately following the release of the report last week making a series of allegations against Nuvei, the Company’s Board led by its independent directors retained legal counsel to assist in determining whether the claims had any merit. Based on the review initiated last week, the Board believes that the claims are misleading, false or unrelated to Nuvei’s business.

Among the many goals of the Sarbanes-Oxley legislation was to increase CEOs’ accountability for the veracity of financial statements by requiring that they personally certify financial disclosures. Although that provision has not led to  successful prosecutions of offending executives, our research finds that the act has had a related impact, although by way of an unexpected mechanism.

Vox Media — which owns New York magazine, Vox.com, Eater, The Verge and SB Nation — and Group Nine Media — which counts Thrillist, The Dodo, NowThis and PopSugar among its properties have signed a deal to join forces, the companies said on Monday. Financial details weren’t disclosed, the deal is expected to close in early 2022.

Businesses around the world report shortages of goods that are in high demand, and consumer prices have risen sharply over recent months. While economists expect companies would have sunk money into expanding capacity, investment spending in many of the world’s largest economies has instead stalled.

he Biden administration said it would restrict more Chinese technology companies from accessing U.S. investment and technology for their alleged support of China’s mass surveillance of mainly Muslim ethnic groups.

For many, the term ESG (environmental, social, governance), conjures notions of investors chasing feel-good stories of sustainability, diversity, and ethics. But given the heightened interests from various stakeholders, corporate directors know ESG is much more.

Far from being just window dressing, making organizations appear socially responsible to the outside world, there are real risks at play when it comes to ESG issues. And there are even more opportunities to be seized.

Boards fulfill an essential oversight role for CEOs and their management teams. C-suite executives can help the board to carry out its responsibilities, including providing critical information and insights. As companies continue to navigate the pandemic and the associated economic fallout, it is particularly critical that executives provide boards with information and analysis in order to help achieve resilience and execute the enterprise’s strategy.

Through subject matter interviews and a culmination of research studies, we highlight how some key C-suite members can help the board and facilitate better board interactions in the current environment:

Our 2021 Annual Corporate Directors Survey found, just over half of directors (52%) tell us that ESG issues are regularly a part of their board’s agenda. There is significant room for improvement.

On December 10, 2021, the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited  published the conclusions from its April 2021 consultation on amendments to the SEHK’s Corporate Governance Code  and Listing Rules intended to promote good corporate governance practices among listed companies and IPO applicants.

The final amendments address a range of topics that could significantly change the way that the boards of covered entities operate, including with respect to gender diversity, ESG reporting timelines and the role that ESG plays in corporate governance structures and processes.

Whether out of innovation or desperation, earlier this month the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) implemented a series of changes to the London Stock Exchange’s listing rules.  

Greater control comes in the form of the introduction of dual-class shares, which give founders, and other senior executives, extra, or even all the voting rights. It effectively means no more “one share, one vote” for investors.

New York-based bitcoin firm NYDIG said Tuesday that it had raised $1 billion at a valuation of more than $7 billion, the latest in a series of blockbuster funding rounds this year by cryptocurrency startups.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is facing scrutiny from investors who are dissatisfied with the bank’s failure to adequately address employee harassment and discrimination concerns, the Financial Times reported. 

ISS’s updated policies focus on climate, board diversity and uneven voting rights in multi-class share structures.  The final voting policies also reflect revisions that reach racial equity or civil rights audits, common and preferred stock authorization and equity-based incentive plans.  Despite expectations of more significant policy revisions for the U.S. market on ESG performance metrics in executive compensation and virtual-only meetings, among other topics, such revisions were not incorporated in the final voting policies. 

Prior research suggests that investing in stocks is an extremely attractive option for investors and institutions with long holding periods

the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) has spurred a transformative journey that is redefining the very nature of work. While technology has played an essential and often defining role, people have nonetheless remained at the core of these revolutionary transformations.