Washington Post (June 1)
“Even as the Trump administration’s commitment to the [Paris] climate accord wavered, the Exxon vote showed that climate concerns were gaining ground in the business world.” BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street apparently cast their “shares in opposition to Exxon management.” Their success “marked an important step for groups that have been trying to force corporations to adopt greater disclosure and transparency about the financial fallout of climate change.” Ultimately, 62.3% of shares cast were against ExxonMobil management, effectively forcing “the oil giant to report on the impact of global measures designed to keep climate change to 2 degrees centigrade.”
Tags: BlackRock, Climate, Disclosure, Exxon, Fallout, Impact, Management, Opposition, Paris accord, State Street, Transparency, Trump, Vanguard
Chicago Tribune (November 26)
“Chicago will not begin to heal until there is accountability and transparency. If there is to be a silver lining in the death of Laquan McDonald, let it be shown through the power of the people who seek change and justice for all.” The release of a one-year old video showing a Chicago police officer shooting a black man 16 times, despite a non-threatening situation, triggered wide spread protests.
Tags: Accountability, Change, Chicago, Justice, Laquan McDonald, Police, Protests, Shooting, Transparency, Video
Institutional Investor (July 28)
“CSR reporting is on the rise, and so is its impact. More companies are publishing corporate social and sustainability reports on their operations amid fresh evidence that transparency enhances valuations.”
Tags: CSR, Evidence, Impact, Operations, Reporting, Sustainability, Transparency, Valuations
Euromoney (May Issue)
Trading in fixed income, currencies and commodities (FICC) is being transformed in a manner that’s benefiting investors and putting the squeeze on many big banks. “The move to electronic trading is accelerating; margins are getting tighter (no sign of oligopolistic pricing here), as competition and transparency grows, and the costs of maintaining a leading tech platform, once built, never go away.”
Tags: Banks, Commodities, Competition, Currencies, Fixed income, Investors, Margins, Oligopolistic pricing, Tech platform, Trading, Transparency
Real Estate Investment Today (April Issue)
“REITs contribute to more resilient real estate markets and a more resilient financial system.” Sub-prime mortgages contributed to the residential property collapse, but REITs helped stabilize the commercial market. A recent study by researchers from the University of Wisconsin and the Bank for International Settlements found that REITs provide markets with much needed transparency and liquidity. It’s “clear that REITs provide real benefits for the broader commercial real estate industry, for investors and for our nation’s economy.”
Tags: BIS, Commercial, Economy, Financial system, Industry, Investors, Liquidity, Markets, Real estate, REITs, Residential property, Resilience, Sub-prime, Transparency, University of Wisconsin
Chicago Tribune (November 5)
“The U.S. drone program has come under enormous pressure from critics who say it claims innocent victims. President Barack Obama has vowed to provide more transparency in how targets are chosen and more accountability for strikes. But the death of Mehsud shows the enormous value of this high-tech warfare…. An international threat who was most likely beyond the reach of conventional troops has been felled. His predecessor met the same fate by the same means.”
Tags: Accountability, High-tech, Mehsud, Obama, Strikes, Targets, Threat, Transparency, Troops, U.S.. Drones, Victims, Warfare
New Yorker (October 21)
“In 1965, C.E.O.s at big companies earned, on average, about twenty times as much as their typical employee. These days, C.E.O.s earn about two hundred and seventy times as much.” Two close that gap, the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) will require “companies to disclose the ratio of the C.E.O.’s pay to that of the median worker.” This is unlikely to help. “Even as companies are disclosing more and more, executive pay keeps going up and up. This isn’t a coincidence: the drive for transparency has actually helped fuel the spiraling salaries…. It gives executives a good idea of how much they can get away with.”
Tags: C.E.O., Disclosure, Executives, Median worker, Salaries, SEC, Transparency
The Economist (May 19)
“Public companies built the railroads of the 19th century. They filled the world with cars and televisions and computers. They brought transparency to business life and opportunities to small investors.” And now they are endangered. “The number of public companies has fallen dramatically over the past decade—by 38% in America since 1997 and 48% in Britain. The number of initial public offerings (IPOs) in America has declined from an average of 311 a year in 1980-2000 to 99 a year in 2001-11.” More demanding regulations have been the main cause many have chosen to go or stay private. “Because public companies sell shares to the unsophisticated, policymakers are right to regulate them more tightly than other forms of corporate organisation. But not so tightly that entrepreneurs start to dread the prospect of a public listing. The public company has long been the locomotive of capitalism. Governments should not derail it.”“Public companies built the railroads of the 19th century. They filled the world with cars and televisions and computers. They brought transparency to business life and opportunities to small investors.” And now they are endangered. “The number of public companies has fallen dramatically over the past decade—by 38% in America since 1997 and 48% in Britain. The number of initial public offerings (IPOs) in America has declined from an average of 311 a year in 1980-2000 to 99 a year in 2001-11.” More demanding regulations have been the main cause many have chosen to go or stay private. “Because public companies sell shares to the unsophisticated, policymakers are right to regulate them more tightly than other forms of corporate organisation. But not so tightly that entrepreneurs start to dread the prospect of a public listing. The public company has long been the locomotive of capitalism. Governments should not derail it.”
Tags: Government, IPOs, Public companies, Regulation, Transparency, U.S., UK
Washington Post (April 2)
“Though some visitors to China, dazzled by the high-rises and humming factories, may miss the point, the true sources of long-run stability and prosperity, for any nation, are the rule of law and transparent government. China still has neither.”
Tags: China, Government, Law, Prosperity, Transparency
New York Times (March 11, 2012)
The proposed JOBS Act (an acronym for Jumpstart our Business Startups) is “a terrible package of bills that would undo essential investor protections, reduce market transparency and distort the efficient allocation of capital.” Amazed by the utter lack of memory, the New York Times stands opposed. “We know memories are short in Washington. But Enron was just 10 years ago. And the entire system almost imploded in 2008. There is no excuse.”
Tags: Congress, Enron, Financial Crisis, Investors, JOBS Act, Start-ups, Transparency
