Friday 7 March 2014

Europe: "Brussels plans fresh rules on executive pay", the Financial Times reports

The Financial Times newspaper reports, in an article on its website titled "Brussels plans fresh rules on executive pay", that "Shareholders in listed EU companies would set the pay gap between executives and average employee pay under draft Brussels reforms aimed at giving more clout and information to investors". According to the FT article, a new shareholder rights Directive will be published next month by Michel Barnier, the European internal market commissioner. Providing shareholders with the right to vote on remuneration policy was included in the Commission's action plan on company law and corporate governance published in late 2012.

The content of the draft Directive, on which the FT's article is based, is similar in some respects to the new remuneration framework introduced in the UK. The draft Directive contains, for example, the requirement to provide shareholders with a binding vote on remuneration policy every three years, something that has recently been introduced in the UK.

The FT article is available here (subscription required to view full text).

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