CGI GLASS LEWIS RELEASES UPDATED PROXY VOTING GUIDELINES; CLIMATE DISCLOSURE, THE AMERICAN WAY

CGI GLASS LEWIS RELEASES UPDATED PROXY VOTING GUIDELINES; CLIMATE DISCLOSURE, THE AMERICAN WAY

Welcome to a new month of our weekly business and media intelligence, with insights collected by the Cannings team over the past seven days.

CLIMATE DISCLOSURE, THE AMERICAN WAY

  • With investors large and small taking into account climate-related measures by major corporations, acting SEC chair Allison Herren Lee has taken action on corporate reporting around climate change. The SEC’s division of corporation finance has been directed to “enhance its focus on climate-related disclosure in public company filings”. Read more here.

AUSTRALIAN SMEs CONTINUE TO BE IGNORED BY THE BIG FOUR

  • A new independent report commissioned by Judo Bank, a long standing Cannings client, has found that one in five Australian small and medium sized enterprises reported no interaction whatsoever with their bank during the pandemic. The report also found that the funding gap for SMEs has continued to widen, while trust in the big banks has continued to drop. Read the report here. And see some of the coverage here.

CGI GLASS LEWIS RELEASES UPDATED PROXY VOTING GUIDELINES  

  • CGI Glass Lewis has released its 2021 Proxy Voting Policy Guidelines for Australia containing two key revisions that reflect recent trends in shareholder sentiments. The new guidelines recommend that shareholders vote against board members of ASX300 companies with six directors but less than two female directors, or with five directors but less than one female director. Read the guidelines here.

WORK-FROM-HOME FATIGURE? HERE’S A SOLUTION FOR YOU

  • The co-working industry was devastated at the beginning of the pandemic, with at least 226 co-working locations across North America closed permanently in 2020. But there may be signs of hope as employees facing work-from-home fatigue are looking for an alternative to the home office. Read more on how co-working office spaces are set to find a new customer base in The Washington Post.

HOW TO RESPOND TO EMPLOYEE ACTIVISM

  • Employee activism is on the rise and set to be a defining feature of the workplace, but according to Harvard Business Review many leaders tend to be ill-equipped to handle outspoken employees. They need to be wary of mishandling their response to employee activism which could be reputationally damaging for the company. Read the article here.

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