Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (ISS) is a leading provider of corporate governance and responsible investment solutions, market intelligence, fund services, and events and editorial content for institutional investors and corporations, globally.

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Founded in 1985, Institutional Shareholder Services group of companies (ISS) empowers investors and companies to build for long-term and sustainable growth by providing high-quality data, analytics and insight. ISS, which is majority owned by Deutsche Börse Group, along with Genstar Capital and ISS management, is a leading provider of corporate governance and responsible investment solutions, market intelligence, fund services, and events and editorial content for institutional investors and corporations, globally. ISS operates on an arm’s-length basis and Deutsche Börse has adopted Principles protecting the independence and integrity of ISS’ research offerings. ISS’ 3,000 employees operate worldwide in 2023 across 25 locations in 15 countries.

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#ISSSTOXX #WorkforUsWednesday #JoinOurTeam #CareerOpportunities #HiringNow

Will Recent Focus on Cyber-Governance Drive Renewed Shareholder Activism?

It is an open question as to how unfolding changes to international cyber-governance regimes and private-sector technological capacities will reshape current approaches to corporate governance.

With this horizon of possibilities in mind, it is the purpose of this article to provide context about recent developments in cybersecurity risk and data privacy within regulatory and proxy voting domains while also attending to the specific forms of cybersecurity risk that constitute the granular considerations that many companies and investors will wish to take into account while formulating their approaches to cyber-governance and risk mitigation.

Read the full article authored by Adam Faircloth, Ph.D. at: https://lnkd.in/eTYHQJvT

#CyberSecurity #Privacy #CorporateGovernance

ISS SCAS & NERA Annual Webinar

Please join ISS Securities Class Action Services on Thursday, February 15th for our annual discussion with NERA on notable securities-related class action settlement activity in 2023 and what to expect in 2024.
 
Moderated by Global Head of ISS SCAS Ivar Eilertsen, our panel of legal, operations, and business experts will discuss the following:

👉  Statistical analysis of what was a banner year for investor recoveries

👉  The largest and most noteworthy securities and antitrust settlements of the year

👉 Event-driven trends: ESG, Crypto, SPAC, and 2023 Banking Turmoil cases

👉  A review of the $6.5 B disbursed to investors in 2023

👉  Opportunities outside North America: trends, active cases, and recent settlements

👉  Looking ahead to 2024– will the settlement numbers keep getting bigger?

Register here today! https://lnkd.in/e5DSRVEM
 
Speakers:
Jarett Sena, Esq., Director of Litigation Analysis, ISS Securities Class Action Services
Edward Flores, Senior Consultant, NERA
James Miller, Managing Director, Head of Operations, ISS Securities Class Action Services
Ivar Eilertsen, Global Business Head, ISS Securities Class Action Services
 
For more information:
https://lnkd.in/exz5AN4Y
www.nera.com
 
Please note: For those individuals who may not have the opportunity to join the webinar live, please register and a link to the recorded event will be provided.

This event is limited to Institutional Investors & Pension Fund Professionals or their representatives only.

#ClassActions #CorporateGovernance #Securities

As we step into the month of February, we're thrilled to shine a spotlight on a significant and inspirational occasion, both in the U.S. and in many countries across the globe – Black History Month. This is a time for us to join together in acknowledging and commemorating the remarkable history, accomplishments, and contributions of Black individuals who have made an enduring impact on our society. Join us in embracing the richness of this month, fostering a workplace that values diversity, and collectively acknowledging the positive influence that Black history has on our shared narrative. 

#ISS #BHM #blackhistorymonth

Banner Year for Securities Class Actions With $5.8 Billion in Settlement Proceeds in U.S.

In 2023, recorded settlement funds stemming from securities class actions in the U.S. surpassed the prior year’s total by approximately $600 million, making it a banner year for investor recoveries, according to a new report released today by Securities Class Action Services LLC (SCAS), part of the ISS STOXX group of companies.

While the annual ISS SCAS Top 100 report finds that the total number of approved monetary settlements in the U.S. decreased by 10 percent, the average value of these settlements increased significantly to $45.4 million, representing an 18 percent increase over the prior year. The report also indicates a significant rise in the value of state court settlements in 2023. Cases that received judgment at the state court level provided for a total of $1.9 billion in recoveries, representing the highest amount recorded by SCAS in a calendar year.

For the first time since 2020, there were four settlements in a calendar year that yielded sufficient dollar recoveries to be included in SCAS’ annual report on the Top 100 largest U.S. settlements of all-time.

Read more at: https://lnkd.in/eKdxVaya

#ClassActions #CorporateGovernance #USA

2024 Market IQ: Malaysia

Malaysia has been pushing regulatory reforms over the past years which are aimed to strengthen corporate governance practices in the market.
In 2011, the Securities Commission of Malaysia (SC) published the Corporate Governance Blueprint 2011 (CG Blueprint) which set out the five-year strategic directions and specific action plans to be implemented to achieve the goal of further developing corporate governance practices in Malaysia. The CG Blueprint produced amendments to listing requirements, updates to the Malaysian Code on Corporate Governance (CG Code), formulation of the Malaysian Code for Institutional Investors, Bursa Sustainability Framework and Toolkit, and the Companies Act 2016.

The CG Blueprint was followed by the Corporate Governance Strategic Priorities 2017-2020 (CG Strategic Priorities) which focused on enhancing the corporate governance regulatory framework, strengthening the corporate governance ecosystem, promoting greater gender diversity on boards, embedding corporate governance culture early in the life cycle of companies and among youth, and leveraging technology to enhance monitoring of corporate governance practices and shareholder activism.

Read the full report authored by Joyce Betonio, Gerard Tinio, Joyce Ann Sayson, Rio Mario S., and Johanne Villacorte, at: https://lnkd.in/e-gA_jjV

#Malaysia #CorporateGovernance #Diversity

Latest Version of the UK Corporate Governance Code Released

On 22 January 2024, the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) published the latest version of its UK Corporate Governance Code (the Code), with almost all provisions to come into force for financial years beginning on or after 1 January 2025.

A consultation on a revised Code was launched in May 2023, concluding in September last year. Central to the proposed amendments was an expansion of the Audit Committee’s remit to include the development, implementation and maintenance of a company’s audit and assurance policy, and an increased focus on ESG reporting, including how E&S matters are considered when establishing a company’s strategy. However, following the King’s Speech to Parliament in November 2023, which announced that the UK Government’s previously disclosed plan for primary legislation to modernize the regulation of audit, corporate reporting and governance had not been prioritized for the next Parliamentary session, the FRC published a statement, which stated that only a small number of the proposed amendments to the Code were to be taken forward. When the revised version of the Code was published in January 2024 it became evident that indeed only a few of the proposed changes had been incorporated.

Read the full report authored by Tom Inchley, at: https://lnkd.in/djq6edv7

#UnitedKingdom #CorporateGovernance

2024 Korea Proxy Season Preview

The tone of good governance in Korea has taken an upturn in light of regulatory support and burgeoning shareholder activism. At the same time, changes at the Federation of Korean Industries (or FKI) could be viewed as a step in the other direction, as major Chaebols groups who were ousted on corruptive lobbying activities resumed their memberships in the FKI. Increasingly, joint forces between the Presidential cabinet and the top business leaders have been witnessed, bringing back a cautionary note on governance concerns from the past.

Meanwhile, the strengthened ISS benchmark policy on governance failures implemented in 2019 has continued to raise awareness on some of the chronic governance concerns still prevalent in Korea. A number of minority shareholders have increasingly and collectively urged boards to address governance failures. Concurrently, some institutional shareholders have proactively expressed opposition to director candidates with a record of governance failure. Some of the directors concerned may be (re)nominated in upcoming AGMs.

Read more at: https://lnkd.in/eRzGGSBW

Learn more about our governance solutions at: https://lnkd.in/dE2Y6pVQ

#CorporateGovernance #Korea

Board Chair Remuneration in Brazil

A review of remuneration data disclosed by Brazilian publicly listed companies analyzed by ISS Governance during the 2023 proxy season identified a group of companies (19 issuers1) with the uncommon practice of remunerating a non-executive director, specifically the chair of the board in all cases, higher than compensation paid to the CEO. Ana Luiza Farias and Samuel Carvalho, with Latin America Research at ISS Governance, report that although this scenario is the exception in the market, this pay practice is disproportionally seen among companies with a founder and/or controlling shareholder serving as board chair. In all but one case, the non-executive chair is classified by the company as non-independent.

In Brazil, shareholders are asked to approve a binding annual say-on-pay resolution granting the board authority to allocate a global remuneration cap to its administrators, including board members, statutory executives, and fiscal council members (when installed). While compensation disclosure is not individualized, regulatory requirements mandate disclosure of the highest compensation paid by the company to a non-executive director as well as to an executive, which are generally assumed to refer to the board chair and CEO, respectively.

Read the full article at: https://lnkd.in/eaVqBYQq

Learn more about ISS Governance solutions at: https://lnkd.in/dE2Y6pVQ

#CorporateGovernance #Brazil #Remuneration #Boards

Largest Securities-Related Class Action Settlements of 2023

2023 delivered a banner year for investor recoveries, as the $7.9 billion in settlement funds across the globe was the highest total in the last five years. The $5.8 billion specifically secured in securities-related class actions in the U.S. was also up 18% from 2022.

In this ISS Insights post, ISS Securities Class Action Services, an industry pioneer and expert in global claims filing, portfolio monitoring, and research solutions, will highlight the largest settlements achieved during the year 2023. A substantive year in review will be documented in ISS SCAS’ forthcoming “Top 100 U.S. Class Action Settlements of All-Time” report, to be published in January 2024. In fact, four settlements in the calendar year were large enough to be featured within SCAS’ forthcoming Top 100 Report, including the $1 billion fiduciary duty-related settlement on behalf of Dell shareholders.

Read the full report authored by, Jarett Sena, Esq., Director of Litigation Analysis, ISS Securities Class Action Services , at: https://lnkd.in/g6bHhkiX

#ClassAction #Settlements #CorporateGovernance

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Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (ISS)

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