On the front line of governance

Lord Myners CBE, ex-City Minister and life peer of the Labour party, explains to Governance + Compliance why entrenched interests must be overcome to ensure long-term good governance.

Corporate governance

Can you describe the current state of corporate governance in the UK?

The quality and the focus on governance both continue to improve and in particular we have seen much more emphasis placed on the role of investors and owners than was originally the case. The initial codes on governance largely focused on the structure of the board and its committees. Original thinking was architectural: the balance of the board, the frequency of meetings and the number of committees. We have now moved into another stage of recognising that good architecture can’t compensate for board culture and that looking at governance solely in terms of what happens within the committee is not the solution. The original combined code ran to about 23 pages and only one and a half pages focused on the role of the shareholder and we are now beginning to address that issue.

Is there anything in particular that is currently preventing good corporate governance?

Entrenched interests...

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