UK: Charity Commission publishes new external scrutiny benchmark and compliance results

The Charity Commission (England and Wales) has published the results of its assessment of a sample of 296 charities' accounts against a new external scrutiny benchmark: see here. The purpose of the Commission's research was to find out if a minimum standard of scrutiny by auditors and independent examiners had taken place. The Commission found that just over three quarters of charities with an income of £1 million or more met the benchmark. However, among charities with income between £25,000 and £250,000, only 37% met the benchmark.

The Commission has also published a report on charities' reporting of related party transactions: see here.

UK: England and Wales: Law Commission seeks views on intermediated securities

The Law Commission for England and Wales has published a call for evidence concerning the system of intermediated securities: see here (pdf). An overview is available in the Commission's press release: see here. Views are sought on various issues including whether owners of intermediated securities find it more difficult to secure voting rights compared with those owning securities directly.

USA: SEC guidance on proxy rules and proxy voting responsibilities

Earlier this week the Securities and Exchange Commission published two documents concerning proxy voting: [1] guidance regarding the proxy voting responsibilities of investment advisers (here, pdf); [2] interpretation and guidance regarding the applicability of the proxy rules (here, pdf).

Vietnam: Corporate Governance Code of Best Practices

Last week, the publication of the Vietnamese Corporate Governance Code of Best Practices was noted: see here. At the time, a copy of the Code in English was not available. It is now: see here (pdf).

Australia: Financial Services Royal Commission implementation roadmap published

The final report and recommendations of the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry, led by the Hon Kenneth Hayne AC QC, was published in February: see here. At the same time, the Australian Government published a response: see here (pdf). More recently - a couple of days ago, in fact - the Government published an implementation roadmap: see here (pdf).

Amongst the report's recommendations were those concerning the culture, governance and remuneration of regulated entities (see, in particular, chapter 6). In this regard, the roadmap notes, amongst other things, that the APRA is reviewing its work programme in this area and will publish a statement of its approach by the end of 2019.