Financial Conduct Authority

Governance Watch - Issue 52

Governance Watch - Issue 52

Change and Evolution

Beware the Ides of March, as they can prove to be treacherous. At a time when Britain appears ever more deeply mired in political stasis over the Brexit vote, we have also seen a steady roll-out of government reforms to improve corporate governance and the running of our businesses. The aim is to restore trust in business and its place in society, although ironically the Edelman Trust Barometer of 2019 shows that the British public trusts business far more than it trusts the government – as mentioned in the last Governance Watch.

If these reforms are now seen not to deliver real change, the threads of that trust will scatter on the chilly wind.

Governance Watch - Issue 28

Governance Watch - Issue 28

Scrutiny

Many of the revisions and proposed revisions to the UK corporate governance code have been about closer scrutiny for accountability and to raise the bar on standards of behaviour - as have moves on regulation. 

Governance Watch - Issue 19

Governance Watch - Issue 19

Listing Rules

The mutterings have been getting louder since the UK regulator the Financial Conduct Authority first proposed changing the premium listing rules to entice Saudi Aramco to the London market. The pretence of its consideration as a general rule change for ‘state-owned companies’ evaporated even as the announcement was made and hit the media headlines.

Governance Watch - Issue 14

Governance Watch - Issue 14

Appointments and conflicts

There are so many good corporate governance reasons to read this story with interest. 

The Bank of England has created a new role of ‘conflicts officer’ in the wake of the events resulting in the resignation of its Deputy Governor, Charlotte Hogg. I covered that story at the time here, on Forbes

Governance Watch - Issue 13

Governance Watch - Issue 13

Regulation and Accountability

It has been an eventful fortnight in UK financial regulation, spewing food for thought on a whole spate of issues around accountability and trust, and their role in better corporate governance.

Almost exactly nine months ago Andrew Bailey, CEO of the UK regulator the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), spoke out for the first time in the media via an opinion piece in The Guardian to firms that were not applying the senior managers regime that had been in place since March 2016.