Non-executive directors start to feel the heat
While in the olden days many people believed that the non-executive roles across many of the U.K.'s leading companies were "jobs for the boys", this situation has certainly changed over the last six months. The sudden demise of companies such as Royal Bank of Scotland and other banking arrangements in the UK has led to further scrutiny of the whole non-executive director system which should have seen a number of unconnected independent directors fighting for the rights of investors and outside dependants.
As the European regulators continue to look closer and closer at the UK system there are serious concerns that a European super regulator would try to enforce certain EU regulations which have until now been ignored by the UK government on the whole. We also have a situation whereby salaries will be made public in the future, more women and ethnic minorities will be jettisoned into the centre of sectors such as finance and the subject of equality in the workplace is becoming more and more headline news. The UK government is now looking to come down hard on companies which ignore or do not comply fully with equality laws although how enforceable this may be in the short to medium term remains to be seen. As with many political parties, actions speak louder than words as headlines are cheap.
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