Tuesday 1 September 2009

So if we're going to use the Companies Act...

...what about exercising the reserve power in clause 1277?:

Information as to exercise of voting rights by institutional investors

1277Power to require information about exercise of voting rights

(1)The Treasury or the Secretary of State may make provision by regulations requiring institutions to which this section applies to provide information about the exercise of voting rights attached to shares to which this section applies.

(2)This power is exercisable in accordance with—

  • section 1278 (institutions to which information provisions apply),

  • section 1279 (shares to which information provisions apply), and

  • section 1280 (obligations with respect to provision of information).

(3)In this section and the sections mentioned above—

(a)references to a person acting on behalf of an institution include—

(i)any person to whom authority has been delegated by the institution to take decisions as to any matter relevant to the subject matter of the regulations, and

(ii)such other persons as may be specified; and

(b)“specified” means specified in the regulations.

(4)The obligation imposed by regulations under this section is enforceable by civil proceedings brought by—

(a)any person to whom the information should have been provided, or

(b)a specified regulatory authority.

(5)Regulations under this section may make different provision for different descriptions of institution, different descriptions of shares and for other different circumstances.

(6)Regulations under this section are subject to affirmative resolution procedure.



Apparently the affirmative resolution procedure is pretty speedy, so it wouldn't pose a big hurdle. And it wouldn't be too difficult to develop a coherent disclosure framework setting out the who, what and when.

So why not?

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