Ethos took part in a joint action by a group of European and North American institutional investors requesting the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) to include environmental and social factors in its new listing requirements which are to be adopted by the Stock Exchange’s Board of Directors on 1 August 2002.
The main recommendations of the new listing standards are the following : boards of companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange must be composed of at least 50% totally independent directors; companies should adopt and disclose corporate governance guidelines as well as a code of business conduct and ethics; shareholders must be given the opportunity to vote on all equity-based compensation plans; each listed company’s CEO must certify that there is no reasonable cause to believe that the information provided to investors is not accurate and complete and that he or she is not aware of any company violations of NYSE listing standards.
Whilst commending the NYSE’s initiative, ethos emphasises the need to take into account the management of environmental and social risks, which have an ever-increasing impact on companies’ value. Ethos makes several suggestions of which the most important are the inclusion of principles of corporate social responsibility in the company code of conduct and the creation of a board social responsibility committee. In addition, ethos asks the NYSE to consider ways in which it could actively promote greater integration of environmental and social factors into company activities.
For further information on the NYSE listing standards, please refer to the web site:
