TASC Submission to the Financial Regulator on Corporate Governance
TASC today published its Submission to the Financial Regulator relating to the Regulator’s Consultation Paper on corporate governance requirements in the financial sector.
Click here to download a PDF of the submission, and here to read the statement issued by TASC Director Paula Clancy. A digital version of the Submission is available here. See below the fold for the main requirements which TASC urges the Financial Regulator to include ...
•Recognise the public interest as the basis for corporate governance and its regulation;
•Recognise risk as applying to the wider public interest in the economy and society, as well as to a company and its shareholders;
•Recognise the lack of diversity as a risk to good governance on boards;
•Require institutions to increase the diversity of directors on their boards, including through employee representation and a 40 per cent gender quota;
•Recognise sustainability and moderation as relevant factors to be considered when boards are setting remuneration levels;
•Recognise certain requirements of corporate governance as ‘core’, such as those governing independence and conflict of interest, to which proportionality should not apply;
•Publish guidelines and clarifications about certain key issues, such as time commitment by board members;
•Publish guidelines and clarifications in relation to how the Financial Regulator will arrive at decisions in enforcing these requirements;
•Publish clearly the sanctions that can be used to enforce the Financial Regulator’s requirements, and to seek new legislation from the Government to supplement these sanctions where they are weak or non-existent;
•Require institutions to make certain information publicly available online;
•Make the requirements applying to the Central Bank stronger than those governing other financial institutions.
•Make stronger requirements in relation to independence, conflict of interest and the role of independent non-executive directors.