Europe: corporate governance in financial institutions - ecoDa's response to Commission Green Paper

Earlier this year the European Commission published a green paper titled Corporate governance in financial institutions and remuneration policies: see here. Ahead of the closing date for responses (1 September), the European Confederation of Directors’ Associations (ecoDa) has published its response: see here (pdf). ecoDa endorses some of the suggestions put forward (including a more explicit duty for directors of systemically important financial institutions to take into account the interests of a broad range of stakeholders) but is somewhat critical of the tone of the Green paper and notes, for example:

Whereas the accompanying working document [here, pdf] presents a nuanced assessment of the role of different governance actors, the Green Paper should be more balanced in its description of the role of directors in failing to prevent the financial crisis. In contrast, it underplays the impact of macroeconomic factors and the unsatisfactory role played by other corporate governance actors, such as regulators, financial supervisors and shareholders. Many investors did not invest the time or resources to provide effective oversight".