Nouvelles diverses | Page 3

Merci à Jacques Grisé d’avoir relayé cette initiative américaine d’un futur code de gouvernance d’entreprise : « Prélude à un code de gouvernance aux É.U. ! ». Son billet s’appuie sur l’article de Gary Larkin associé à The Conference Board Governance Center intitulé « It’s Commonsense to Have a U.S. Corporate Governance Code ».

Voici les bases de ce code :

• Every board should meet regularly without the CEO present, and every board should have active and direct engagement with executives below the CEO level.
• Directors should be elected by a majority  of either “for” or “against/withhold” votes (with abstentions and non-votes not be counted)
• Board refreshment should always be considered in order that the board’s skillset and perspectives remain current.
• Every board should have members with complementary and diverse skills, backgrounds and experiences.
• If the board decides on a combined CEO/Chair role, it is essential that the board have a strong independent director.
• Institutional investors that make decisions on proxy issues important to long-term value creation should have access to the company, its management, and, in some circumstances, the board.
• Companies should only provide earnings guidance to the extent they believe it is beneficial to shareholders.

À la prochaine….

Ivan Tchotourian

Bonjour à toutes et à tous, je vous informe qu’Andrew Ceresney (directeur de la division Enforcement à la SEC) s’est exprimé lors de la Sixteenth Annual Taxpayers Against Fraud Conference à Washington le 14 septembre 2016 (« The SEC’s Whistleblower Program: The Successful Early Years »). À cette occasion, M. Ceresney est revenu sur la dénonciation, son histoire et son succès actuel… ainsi que l’influence qu’a exercé le programme de dénonciation américain pour le Canada (Ontario et Québec) et l’Australie.

Whistleblowers provide an invaluable public service, often at great personal and professional sacrifice and peril. I cannot overstate the appreciation we have for the willingness of whistleblowers to come forward with evidence of potential securities law violations. I often speak of the transformative impact that the program has had on the Agency, both in terms of the detection of illegal conduct and in moving our investigations forward quicker and through the use of fewer resources.

Dans son allocution, M. Ceserney fournit des chiffres :

1. The success of the program can be seen, in part, in the over $107 million we have paid to 33 whistleblowers for their valuable assistance, in cases with more than $500 million ordered in sanctions
2. Since the inception of the program, the Office has received more than 14,000 tips from whistleblowers in every state in the United States and from over 95 foreign countries. What’s more, tips from whistleblowers increased from 3,001 in fiscal year 2012 — the first full fiscal year that the Commission’s Whistleblower Office was in operation — to nearly 4,000 last year, an approximately 30% increase. And we are on target to exceed that level this year. During fiscal year 2015, the Office returned over 2,800 phone calls from members of the public. By the end of fiscal year 2015, the Commission and Claims Review Staff had issued Final Orders and Preliminary Determinations with respect to over 390 claims for whistleblower awards.

À la prochaine…

Ivan Tchotourian

Selon un article de L’Agefi (« Les rachats d’actions aux Etats-Unis s’intensifient »), le montant des rachats d’actions effectués au premier trimestre par les entreprises de l’indice S&P 500 ne cesse de croître.

Sur la base des données disponibles, soit 80% de l’échantillon, ils sont de 20% supérieurs aux rachats effectués le trimestre précédent, et dépassent de 31% les montants enregistrés lors de la même période de 2015 aux Etats-Unis, selon les statistiques provisoires de S&P Dow Jones Indices.

Le compteur des rachats au premier trimestre atteint déjà 142,5 milliards de dollars sur la base des données provisoires. Au dernier trimestre 2015, ils approchaient 146 milliards de dollars, pour un total supérieur à 572 milliards sur l’année écoulée. Le record de rachat sur trois mois remonte au troisième trimestre 2007, qui a marqué le début de la crise financière, avec 172 milliards dépensés sur un trimestre par les sociétés du S&P 500 pour acquérir leurs propres titres.

J’avais eu l’occasion de m’exprimer il y a peu sur ce sujet dans un billet du blogue Contact intitulé : « Rachat d’actions: cul-de-sac pour les entreprises? ».

Petit extrait : Comme je l’ai démontré, le rachat d’actions est donc une décision atypique qui soulève ses propres contradictions et réserves. Si une décision de racheter des actions est prise par le CA d’une entreprise, celle-ci doit en mesurer les conséquences:

• Ouvrir assurément et facilement la voie à la critique.
• Envoyer un signal souvent interprété de manière différente par les partenaires internes (je pense aux actionnaires et aux salariés, par exemple) et externes d’une entreprise.

Plus grave, à mon sens, le rachat d’actions peut cacher une politique de court terme lourde de sens: empêcher des investissements d’avenir indispensables à la relance de l’économie.

Sous peine de menacer l’équilibre dans la répartition de richesse, l’économie ne saurait en être une de rachat d’actions. Entreprises et CA, vous avez là une responsabilité qui dépasse l’entreprise: une responsabilité sociétale!

À la prochaine…

Ivan Tchotourian

Selon The New York Times (« ‘Customers First’ to Become the Law in Retirement Investing »), le département du travail américain vient de publier une nouvelle réglementation qui va imposer aux conseillers financiers et courtiers de devoir mettre en avant l’intérêt de leur client dans la gestion des fonds de retraite qu’ils administrent.

The Labor Department, after years of battling Wall Street and the insurance industry, issued new regulations on Wednesday that will require financial advisers and brokers handling individual retirement and 401(k) accounts to act in the best interests of their clients.

The government move is expected to encourage a shift of retirement funds into lower-cost investments — potentially saving billions of dollars for many ordinary investors — while setting off one of the biggest upheavals in the financial services industry in decades.

Pour rappel, au Canada, les ACVM ont publié le 28 avril 2016 un « Document de consultation 33-404 des ACVM : Propositions de rehaussement des obligations des conseillers, courtiers et des représentants envers leurs clients » qui comporte une partie 8 très intéressante : PARTIE 8 – PROJET DE CADRE DE LA NORME RÉGLEMENTAIRE D’AGIR AU MIEUX DES INTÉRÊTS DU CLIENT.

À la prochaine…

Ivan Tchotourian

Rapport sur la gouvernance des sociétés fermées par le NACD (pour une synthèse, cliquez ici) !

The National Association of Corporate Directors recently released its 2015-2016 NACD Private Company Governance Survey. In an article in the March 2016 edition of “Private Company Director” – a monthly publication sponsored by NACD – senior research analyst, Ted Sikora, highlighted a few of the results. Some of the more interesting take-aways were those that distinguished family owned business from other privately held companies. For example:

• Approximately three-quarters of all family owned business lack any kind of formal CEO/leadership succession plan. At the same time, respondents to the survey from family owned businesses identified leadership and management training as some of the most important and time consuming parts of their job (more so than other privately held companies). This interesting juxtaposition might arise from the fact that many family owned businesses (although certainly not all) already have a presumptive leadership heir. As such, there does not appear to be any need for a formal process for identifying a new CEO. Because the next generation of leadership is frequently already with the business, however, there is a constant reminder of the training they need
• Barely half of family owned businesses have any kind of board evaluation mechanism. Again, it is not difficult to imagine the relationship dynamics in a family business that would lead to this result. If everyone on the board of directors is in the family, a formal review process would seem particularly awkward.
• A majority of family owned businesses have no limitations or restrictions on time spent in management or on the board. Many privately held companies will have term limits, age limits and other restrictions, but these appear notably less used in family owned businesses.
• Respondents from family owned businesses strongly identified the need for outside, industry expertise on their boards. Yet family owned businesses are the most likely to have boards lacking in outsiders, industry experts and others identified as adding value.
• Consistent with nearly every other survey in this area, family owned businesses demonstrated a longer vision and a greater priority of long-term planning, as compared with their non-family owned counterparts.

À la prochaine…

Ivan Tchotourian

Très intéressant article du The Wall Street Journal qui met en lumière le fait qu’une part non négligeable d’administrateurs américains occupent leur siège depuis plus de 10 ans (24 %). Cette situation ne serait pas gênante, si les investisseurs ne commençaient à se rebeller ! Lire la suite ici.

Large U.S. companies increasingly are governed by board members who have held their seats for a decade or more, even as some big investors question whether these directors serve shareholders’ best interests. At 24% of the biggest U.S. companies, a majority ofthe board has been in place for at least 10 yeaxs, .•a. Wall Street Journal~.lli!lysis found. It is a ~arked changed from 2005 when long-term directors made up a board majority at 11%of large companies. One factor driving the change is low turnover among directors.

(…) Some investors and proxy advisory firms aren’t waiting for companies to make changes. BlackRock Inc., State Street Global Advisors and o~?ig money managers have begun opposing the re-election of some directors with extended tenure.

À la prochaine…

Ivan Tchotourian