Australia: new FSC standard - Principles of Internal Governance and Asset Stewardship

The Financial Services Council has published a new standard titled Principles of Internal Governance and Asset Stewardship: see here (pdf). The purpose of the standard is, to quote directly from it, "...to provide guidance to FSC Members who undertake the role of Asset Managers in setting and achieving best practice in fulfilling their fiduciary responsibility as custodians of one of the largest pools of managed funds in the world". The standard is mandatory for FSC full members from 1 July 2018. The standard will operate very much like the stewardship codes seen in other jurisdictions.

USA: Federal Reserve Board consults on supervisory expectations for boards of directors

Last week the Federal Reserve Board published for public comment a proposal setting out its supervisory expectations for the boards of directors of a range of financial institutions including bank holding companies, including (for example) the attributes of an effective board: see here (pdf).

UK: HMRC consults on draft corporation tax reform guidance

HMRC has published, for consultation, draft guidance on forthcoming reforms to the corporation tax regime, more specifically restrictions on what can be deducted in respect of loss relief and corporate interest: see, respectively, here and here. This consultations follows the publication of draft legislation for these changes last month (see here and here.

UK: FRC update on Stewardship Code signatories, tiering and forthcoming reviews

The Financial Reporting Council has published an updated list of signatories to the UK Stewardship Code: see here. Last year the FRC published a ranking of Code signatories, placing 40 in the lowest tier - tier 3 - indicating that their approach to stewardship required greater transparency and engagement. Yesterday the FRC announced that tier 3 had been removed, with half of those within it moving into tier 1 or 2 and the remainder deciding they no longer wished to be Code signatories: see here.

The FRC has also announced that its review of the UK Corporate Governance Code, being held later this year (twenty five years after the publication of the Cadbury Report and Code), will include questions on the approach it should take in its review of the UK Stewardship Code in 2018.

UK: CIPD/HPC annual survey of FTSE100 executive director pay

The CIPD and High Pay Centre have published their annual survey of FTSE100 executive director pay: see here (pdf). To quote the opening paragraph from the executive summary: "Our review of FTSE 100 CEO pay packages shows a sharp turnaround in the rising trend of remuneration. FTSE 100 CEOs have seen an overall drop in pay packages, especially at the top end, though the gulf between the highest paid executives and the rest of the workforce still remains".