UK: ICSA / IA guidance - the stakeholder voice in board decision making

ICSA and the Investment Association have published a guidance document titled The Stakeholder Voice in Board Decision-Making: see here (pdf). The guidance - welcomed by the Government and Financial Reporting Council - contains ten core principles, and its purpose is "...to help company bards think about how to ensure they understand and weigh up the interests of their key stakeholders when taking strategic decisions".

Canada: corporate governance reform - an update

An update on the Bill that will, when enacted, make changes to the governance framework by amending the Canada Business Corporations Act, the Canada Cooperatives Act, and the Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act. The Bill has begun its journey through the Senate, receiving first reading on June 21 and starting its second reading on September 19.  The text of the Bill is available here and further information is available here and here. Among the changes proposed are those relating to the election of directors (including annual elections and votes for individual directors), the disclosure of information regarding board diversity and communications with shareholders.

Netherlands: draft of the first Dutch Stewardship Code published

Eumedion - the foundation representing institutional investors in the Netherlands - has published a draft Stewardship Code: see here (pdf). The new Code builds on Eumedion's Best Practices for Engaged Share-Ownership, published in 2011 (here, pdf). It contains eleven principles and is intended to come into force on 1 January 2018.

Singapore: MAS removes requirement for mandatory audit rotation of local banks

Last month the Monetary Authority of Singapore announced, in response to an earlier consultation, that it would be removing the requirement for the mandatory rotation of firms auditing local banks: see here (pdf). In reaching this decision, MAS cites the "regulatory developments since 2008 that have introduced additional safeguards to enhance the quality and independence of external audit, the primary responsibility of audit committees in ensuring the independence, objectivity and quality of external audit, and the potential risk of audit gaps arising from frequent change of auditors".

UK: Takeover Panel - consultation paper on statements of intention and related matters

The UK Takeover Panel Code Committee has published a consultation paper titled Statements of intention and related matters: see here (pdf). Amendments are proposed to Rules 2.7, 19.5, 19.6, 24 and 25 of the Takeover Code, the effect of would be, for example, to bring forward the requirement for an offerer to make statements of intention to the time at which the announcement of a firm intention to make an offer is made.