Santiago, Chile - 1-2 December 2009

Taking into account corporate governance lessons from the global financial crisis, the Latin American Roundtable on Corporate Governance concluded its 10th annual meeting by agreeing in principle to a revised set of recommendations aimed at encouraging institutional investors to exercise their ownership rights responsibly and promote better corporate governance of companies in the region.

 

The draft White Paper on Strengthening the Role of Institutional Investors in Latin American Corporate Governance is currently under revision and the final version will incorporate the discussions held at the Roundtable and written suggestions.

The Roundtable also agreed to deepen its work to support effective boards of directors and corporate governance-related enforcement issues, and to explore the launching of a Latin American network on corporate governance of state-owned enterprises.

 

The Roundtable took the occasion to review progress by companies in implementing corporate governance, and accomplishments of regulatory agencies in further enforcing corporate governance standards.

 

It addressed 3 issues in response to the financial crisis that are high on the agenda for the region – the role of boards, including their role in risk management; corporate governance of financial institutions; and the need to ensure good governance of state-owned assets, including pension funds, sovereign wealth funds and state-owned enterprises.

 

In addition, the Roundtable’s Companies Circle introduced its new publication, Practical Guide to Corporate Governance: Experiences of the Companies Circle, and agreed to use the Roundtable’s networks to promote its dissemination in the region to further support corporate governance implementation.

 

The  Latin American Roundtable is a joint initiative of the OECD and IFC/World Bank Group, involving policy-makers, regulators, stock exchanges, and a range of private sector actors from Latin American and OECD countries concerned with corporate governance issues. The 2009 meeting was co-hosted by Chile’s Ministry of Finance, Securities and Insurance Commission, and the University of Chile’s Corporate Governance and Capital Markets Center, and was supported by the Global Corporate Governance Forum and Government of Spain.

 

Meeting Documents

• Draft Agenda

         Session 2

• The Legal, Regulatory and Institutional Framework for Enforcement of Corporate Governance in Latin America: A comparison of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Panama and Peru 

        Session 3

• Draft Country Reports - Survey of Corporate Governance Practices in Selected Latin American Countries
• Annexes to the Country Reports - Survey of Corporate Governance Practices in Selected Latin American Countries Synthesis Report: Annexes to the Survey of Corporate Governance Practices in Selected Latin American Countries
• Synthesis Report: Survey of Corporate Governance Practices in Selected Latin American Countries

         Session 6

• White Paper on Strengthening the Role of Institutional Investors in Latin American Corporate Governance is currently under revision, and will incorporate the discussions of the Roundtable and written suggestions in a final version to be released early in 2010.

 

Presentations

         Session 1

• CAF's current corporate governance initiatives, Michael Penfold, Andean Development Foundation (CAF)
• Key Conclusions from ECLAC's inititative on "Good Governance in Business and Capital Markets", Daniel Titelman, ECLAC

         Session 2

• Enforcement priorities and challenges: A regional survey, Andreas Grimminger, eStandards Forum
• Policy brief on "The Guide to Fighting Abusive Related Party Transactions in Asia," Fianna Jesover, OECD

         Session 3

• Survey of Brazilian companies' corporate governance (IBGC and booz&co), Heloisa Bedicks, IBGC
• Survey of Chilean companies' corporate governance, Dieter Linneberg, Center of Corporate Governance and Capital Markets
• Survey of Panamanian companies' corporate governance, Cristina Vence, Corporate Governance Institute of Panama
• Key findings from reports on "comply or explain" codes and other corporate governance reporting mechanisms in Argentina, Colombia, Mexico and Peru, Cuauhtemoc Lopez-Bassols, OECD

         Session 4

• Presentation of highlights of the Practical Guide to Corporate Governance: Experiences from the Latin American Companies Circle, Sandra Guerra, Latin American Companies Circle and Andre Covre, Ultrapar

         Session 5

• Plenary presentation of new recommendations from the OECD on Corporate Governance Lessons from the Financial Crisis, Adrian Blundell-Wignall, OECD
  Break-out Groups
  
• Corporate governance of financial institutions, Davit Karapetyan, International Finance Corporation
• The role of boards (including risk management)
• The role of the state: state owned enterprises, sovereign wealth funds, nationalised pensions, Silvina Vatnick, Center for Financial Stability

         Session 6

• Presentation of the revised White Paper on Corporate Governance and Institutional Investors, Daniel Blume, OECD and Davit Karapetyan, International Finance Corporation
• Presentation of the revised White Paper on Corporate Governance and Institutional Investors, Hector Lehuedé, Ministry of Finance of Chile
• Presentation of Major Developments in the area of Corporate Governance and Institutional Investors, Elizabeth Machado, Comissão de Valores Mobiliários, Brazil

          Session 7

• Findings from the financial crisis break-out groups

          Session 8

• Update on the Corporate Governance Toolkit for Privately Owned and Family-Run Businesses, Cate Ambrose, Latin American Venture Capital Association (LAVCA)

 

 

For more information about this event, please contact:
Ms. Felicia Rodriguez (Felicia.Rodriguez@oecd.org).