Two interesting articles in the Guardian and the Independent address the issue of why people rioted in the month of August 2011. The Guardian article raises the concerns that David Cameron is trying to restrict access to Twitter and Facebook for individuals who have taken part in the August riots. The Independent article says that an explanation for the riots is that communities do not trust politicians.
Reading these articles, for me the greatest concern is that of restricting information, and entering into a world where for political reasons information is prevented from going to individuals who are seen to take politically unacceptable action. Under the Labour administration, which was a period of high employment and income in the city, a lot of money was put into health and education, but it seems that things have not really improved.
I have seen [...]

The case for professional boards, as set out in an article in Harvard Business Review by Robert Posen, is no surprise. The lack of attention paid by boards to the current economic crisis has been problematic. There have been two factors, both in the UK and US that contributed to this.
•    The lack of knowledge of board directors about the organisations that they serve and the lack of time to get familiar with it.
•    The dynamics of the board: courage, resilience and insight are required by board members to challenge the status quo and add real value
The proposal for professional boards is therefore on the horizon. It would undoubtedly provide a far better level of professional input in assessing risk, nominating directors etc. However, this will not improve the boards’ dynamics. This is a leadership issue and that is where the role of the Chairman [...]

A recent article by Miles Johnson covered the issue of global investment groups backing the new UK shareholder code. The code, which would be written down and specify what shareholders need to do to guide the stewardship of their organisation is a nice idea, but one which may not necessarily work.
The limitations of this approach were particularly well illustrated by a Chairman of a multinational that I was speaking to about the issue. I was more in favour of shareholder action, while the Chairman was more reluctant. The problem he needed to grapple with was ‘If I am to listen to my shareholders, which ones should I listen to? Is it the ones that hold my stock for the longest? Most shareholders trade stock regularly to achieve a percentage gain and surely those that are watching the market are the most informed?  Those who [...]

The Walker report is a lowest common denominator response to addressing corporate governance at UK banks. We need a deep overhaul of the financial system: much better regulation, longer-term thinking, and a break up of the investment banking mindsets which led to the financial crisis.
Giving non-executive directors more powers, scrutinising how they are appointed, or increasing regulation alone will make absolutely no difference.  Non-executive directors already have the powers; it’s the culture of investment banking globally which must change.
Non-executive directors must spend more time understanding the bank on whose board they sit.  They have to understand the culture, get to know the key managers in the bank, and spend more time in the bank appreciating the way business is done there.  Banks also need to spend the resources to ensure their non-executives become familiar [...]