The responsibilities of institutional shareholders in the UK

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:99/14386 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

After the OFR: Can UK shareholder value still be enlightened?

This article examines the likely impact of the United Kingdom's Company Law Review (CLR) on its system of corporate governance. The CLR recommended that company law should be amended to require companies to pursue ‘enlightened shareholder value’. This would be ensured primarily through a requirement on listed companies to produce an Operating and Financial Review (OFR). The OFR was introduced into law but was recently unexpectedly abolished by the Chancellor. The article examines the theoretical approach taken to corporate governance by the CLR and the way in which the OFR was expected to affect corporate governance. It then asks whether shareholder value would in fact have been enlightened by the OFR, given the institutional context in which it would have operated. While there are considerable grounds for scepticism about whether the OFR would have worked as the CLR expected, it is unfortunate that it was withdrawn because it was an important experiment in disclosure of qualitative information about intangible assets. The article concludes with some thoughts about whether shareholder value could still be enlightened in the absence of a mandatory OFR

The Financial Sector and Corporate Governance: the UK case

Post 1992 Cadbury Committee report developments in UK corporate governance provisions are reviewed. The role of institutional investors, and the financial sector as a whole, in corporate governance is considered. Practices in "Continental Europe", the UK and the US are contrasted, along with the roles of banks, strategic investors ("insiders"), institutional investors ("outsiders") and capital markets. To be effective, capital markets must be efficient and competitive and auditing must be reliable. Current EU and US reform proposals are compared and prospects for convergence in corporate governance procedures assessed. Copyright Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2005.

Institutional Investor Activism on Socially Responsible Investment: Effects and Expectations

Starting by establishing the importance of institutional investor activism and Socially Responsible Investment, the article goes on to investigate the effects of SRI and attempts to offer a convincing explanation on the persisting theoretical and empirical divergence. It is suggested that the positive impact of institutional investors’ activism on SRI has been empirically undermined due to the defects of current evaluation systems. Nevertheless, the passivism of institutional investors and other practical concerns determine that SRI will remain as a minor investment trend in Anglo-American countries, at least in the near future