Wednesday 5 October 2011

The FSA and corporate governance

Have to say I find this a bit surprising. It's not an isolated example either. It immediately makes me think that those in the UK investor community worried about the EC's possible tilt away from 'comply or explain' may be looking in the wrong place for a fight.

I think this is indicative of a much wider trende. I have been saying for a while that the likely outcome of the failure of market oversight of financial institutions would be a shift to a more regulatory approach to governance. The fact that the FSA is engaging with a bank to get it to strengthen its board is a good example of what we may begin to see more of. I'm also interested in whether/how the FSA communications concerns to investors.

Anyway, looks like the first bit of practical evidence for the regulatory turn and it's happening in our own backyard. People in the UK investment community love nothing better than moaning about ill-informed European civil servants mucking everything up, and latterly this has included corporate governance. I'm starting to wonder if that says more about their own politics than what is really going on here.

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