UK: The Registration of Overseas Entities - draft Bill published

A draft of the Registration of Overseas Entities Bill has been published by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy: see here. The Bill, when law, will provide for the framework requiring overseas entities owning land in the United Kingdom to register with Companies House and to provide information concerning their beneficial owners (and to update this information). Published alongside the Bill is a research report exploring the potential impacts of the proposed register: see here (pdf).

UK: Exiting the EU: The Friendly Societies (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018

The European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 received Royal assent at the end of June. Under section 8(1) of the Act, a Minister of the Crown is given the power through Regulations to make provisions to prevent, remedy or mitigate any failure of retained EU law to operate effectively or any other deficiency in retained EU law, arising from the UK's withdrawal from the European Union.

A final draft of the Friendly Societies (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 has been published, and will be made in exercise of the section 8(1) power. A copy of the Regulations is available here (pdf) and the accompanying explanatory memorandum is available here (pdf). The Regulations make a number of changes to the Friendly Societies Act 1992, including replacing the references to the EU Audit Directive.

The Regulations will not be be laid in Parliament until they have gone through the new 'sifting' process prescribed within Schedule 7 of the 2018 Act (further guidance is available here; for discussion see here).

Nigeria: FRC consultation on the Nigerian Code of Corporate Governance

The Financial Reporting Council has published for consultation a draft of the Nigerian Code of Corporate Governance: see here. The Code will operate on the basis of 'apply and explain' and replaces the Code published but subsequently withdrawn in 2017. The new Code contains 28 Principles, the application of which by companies is assumed, together with the practices recommended for implementing the Principles.

UK: Cranfield's Female FTSE Board Report 2018

The latest annual edition of Cranfield University's Female FTSE Board Report has been published: see here (pdf). To quote directly from the executive summary:

Since October 2017 the percentage of women on FTSE 100 boards has increased from 27.7% to 29%, meaning that if the current pace continues it is possible to reach the targeted 33% by the end of 2020. In total 264 women hold 305 directorships on FTSE 100 boards. The percentage of female NonExecutive Director (NED) positions is at the all-time high of 35.4%, whilst the percentage of female executive positions has flatlined at 9.7%. On a positive note, seven women hold a Chair position and 18 hold Senior Independent Directorships. A further 85 women hold 95 Chair roles on the various committees across FTSE 100 boards. In contrast, the percentage of women on FTSE 250 boards has only increased marginally from 22.8% in October 2017 to 23.7%, the percentage of female executive directorships has dropped from 7.7% to 6.4% and the number of all male boards has increased to ten. These present challenging conditions for meeting the 33% target in 2020."

UK: FRC publishes new edition of the UK Corporate Governance Code

The Financial Reporting Council yesterday published a new edition of the UK's Corporate Governance Code: see here (pdf). A summary of the key changes made in this new edition can be found here. An updated edition of the FRC's guidance on board effectiveness has also been published: see here (pdf).

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Apologies to readers for the absence of posts over the past few weeks (I have, amongst other things, been dealing with the aftermath of flash flooding in Birmingham). There is some catching-up to do, so expect some posts over the next few weeks to cover developments from earlier in the year.