Dare nine men defy the siren call of Christine Lagarde?
The Observer, Saturday 2 June 2012
Christine Lagarde: siren calls delivered with charm.
All eyes on Threadneedle Street this week as the City waits (prays) for the Bank of England to fire up its magic money machine at the June gathering of the monetary policy committee.
Apart from the economic repercussions of the MPC's deliberations, the two-day meeting gives it a shot at making history and becoming the first body to summon the fortitude to resist the charms of Christine Lagarde, beguiling head of the International Monetary Fund.
By Thursday we should know if her siren calls for the UK to make further interest rate cuts and create more electronic money have been fended off by the nine-strong committee, although the odds on that are shortening. Poor economic news on Friday (May's PMI survey was a shocker) has been described by Deutsche Bank's George Buckley as a "game changer". Meanwhile, Citi's Michael Saunders muses: "We continue to expect that worsening economic prospects will prompt the MPC to expand QE [quantitative easing] markedly further – to a total of about £500bn – and that the next instalment will occur soon. On balance, we forecast the MPC will expand QE by another £50bn at the June meeting."
Surely the Bank's nonet of middle-aged men wouldn't consider frustrating the French temptress?
The bottom line for Japanese shareholders
The UK may be coming to a halt for much of this week to celebrate the Queen's diamond jubilee, but at least there's important corporate news occurring in other financial centres.
The Japanese annual meeting season is apparently about to kick off, and over there investors enjoy a lively approach to governance, with shareholders putting forward their own resolutions. Sarah Wilson, chief executive of proxy voting service Manifest, is an expert on such matters and has picked out a most curious example (which she insists is not a wind-up).
"It should be stipulated in the articles of incorporation that all toilets within the company's offices shall be Japanese-style toilets, thereby toughening the legs and loins," reads one proposal she sends over.
"The company can surely avoid failure if they straddle over a Japanese-style toilet every day and strengthen their lower body."
Other Japan watchers, who insist that they know about such things, also report that upmarket toilets in the country possess functions allowing the pampering of top executives' bottoms. In the UK, that job is left to the remuneration committee.
So we meet again, Sir John Reginald Hartnell Bond
The name is Bond… Sir John Reginald Hartnell Bond. And our hero is in need of a stiff vodka martini.
We last heard about the agent's adventures when he was stationed in Canary Wharf, fighting a losing battle to try to explain HSBC's £9bn pre-crash purchase of Household, a subprime mortgage lender.
Despite that disaster movie, Bond is now back, this time accepting a tricky mission in his new role of chairman of mining group Xstrata.
The backstory to this adventure involves Xstrata's planned merger with Glencore and how Bond's handler (Mick Davis, chief exec) is hoping to trouser his share of £240m of retention bonuses paid simply for turning up to the office.
With shareholders revolting, Bond has been tasked with a dash around the City this week in a desperate race to save his own credibility.
He may also try to persuade the odd Xstrata shareholder to back the proposals too, but they are furious as the company is holding a Walther PPK to their temples by linking voting on remuneration to the merger. The chairman's only real argument is that if the executive payday gets it, so does the deal. As a line of reasoning, it's as easy to justify as Sean Connery's all-in-one towelling bathing suit in Goldfinger.
Call security? We are security
For your average controversial corporation, security at annual general meetings is handled by a crack team of professionals. But when you're a security company yourself - and prone to the odd gaffe such as tagging the prosthetic leg of a prisoner who then hops off - calling in the professionals might not always be an option.
It is against that backdrop that campaigners will make their way to the AGM of security specialists G4S this week, where they will voice concerns on issues as varied as: the death of asylum seeker Jimmy Mubenga while under G4S guard (a decision on whether or not to prosecute will be made soon); charges for security to the Olympic Games (the same margin as usual, says G4S); and the group's service contract with an Israeli jail that holds political prisoners. Four years ago, the company said it would withdraw from the West Bank contracts by 2015. No hurry, then? "We couldn't get out of them," said a spokesman, without a hint of irony.
The Observer, Saturday 2 June 2012
Christine Lagarde: siren calls delivered with charm.
All eyes on Threadneedle Street this week as the City waits (prays) for the Bank of England to fire up its magic money machine at the June gathering of the monetary policy committee.
Apart from the economic repercussions of the MPC's deliberations, the two-day meeting gives it a shot at making history and becoming the first body to summon the fortitude to resist the charms of Christine Lagarde, beguiling head of the International Monetary Fund.
By Thursday we should know if her siren calls for the UK to make further interest rate cuts and create more electronic money have been fended off by the nine-strong committee, although the odds on that are shortening. Poor economic news on Friday (May's PMI survey was a shocker) has been described by Deutsche Bank's George Buckley as a "game changer". Meanwhile, Citi's Michael Saunders muses: "We continue to expect that worsening economic prospects will prompt the MPC to expand QE [quantitative easing] markedly further – to a total of about £500bn – and that the next instalment will occur soon. On balance, we forecast the MPC will expand QE by another £50bn at the June meeting."
Surely the Bank's nonet of middle-aged men wouldn't consider frustrating the French temptress?
The bottom line for Japanese shareholders
The UK may be coming to a halt for much of this week to celebrate the Queen's diamond jubilee, but at least there's important corporate news occurring in other financial centres.
The Japanese annual meeting season is apparently about to kick off, and over there investors enjoy a lively approach to governance, with shareholders putting forward their own resolutions. Sarah Wilson, chief executive of proxy voting service Manifest, is an expert on such matters and has picked out a most curious example (which she insists is not a wind-up).
"It should be stipulated in the articles of incorporation that all toilets within the company's offices shall be Japanese-style toilets, thereby toughening the legs and loins," reads one proposal she sends over.
"The company can surely avoid failure if they straddle over a Japanese-style toilet every day and strengthen their lower body."
Other Japan watchers, who insist that they know about such things, also report that upmarket toilets in the country possess functions allowing the pampering of top executives' bottoms. In the UK, that job is left to the remuneration committee.
So we meet again, Sir John Reginald Hartnell Bond
The name is Bond… Sir John Reginald Hartnell Bond. And our hero is in need of a stiff vodka martini.
We last heard about the agent's adventures when he was stationed in Canary Wharf, fighting a losing battle to try to explain HSBC's £9bn pre-crash purchase of Household, a subprime mortgage lender.
Despite that disaster movie, Bond is now back, this time accepting a tricky mission in his new role of chairman of mining group Xstrata.
The backstory to this adventure involves Xstrata's planned merger with Glencore and how Bond's handler (Mick Davis, chief exec) is hoping to trouser his share of £240m of retention bonuses paid simply for turning up to the office.
With shareholders revolting, Bond has been tasked with a dash around the City this week in a desperate race to save his own credibility.
He may also try to persuade the odd Xstrata shareholder to back the proposals too, but they are furious as the company is holding a Walther PPK to their temples by linking voting on remuneration to the merger. The chairman's only real argument is that if the executive payday gets it, so does the deal. As a line of reasoning, it's as easy to justify as Sean Connery's all-in-one towelling bathing suit in Goldfinger.
Call security? We are security
For your average controversial corporation, security at annual general meetings is handled by a crack team of professionals. But when you're a security company yourself - and prone to the odd gaffe such as tagging the prosthetic leg of a prisoner who then hops off - calling in the professionals might not always be an option.
It is against that backdrop that campaigners will make their way to the AGM of security specialists G4S this week, where they will voice concerns on issues as varied as: the death of asylum seeker Jimmy Mubenga while under G4S guard (a decision on whether or not to prosecute will be made soon); charges for security to the Olympic Games (the same margin as usual, says G4S); and the group's service contract with an Israeli jail that holds political prisoners. Four years ago, the company said it would withdraw from the West Bank contracts by 2015. No hurry, then? "We couldn't get out of them," said a spokesman, without a hint of irony.