Governance | Article
11 May 2026 - The UK recently (Nov 5, 2025) revisited one of the norms that has long limited board-level equity ownership. Updated guidance from the Financial Reporting Council now clarifies that share-based remuneration for non-executive directors can be appropriate where it supports long-term alignment, provided independence is preserved, and conflicts are carefully managed. It is a subtle but meaningful shift, and it arrives at exactly the right moment. New research from FCLTGlobal, conducted in collaboration with MSCI Institute, gives boards and investors a compelling reason to pay attention.
Stakeholder Capitalism | Article
11 May 2026 - Using equity as part of employee compensation reinforces an ownership culture across the employee base. And ownership by employees, executives, and board members has been shown to create value over the long term. Having “skin in the game” is largely considered a good idea. Yet, companies often receive pushback from proxy advisors such as ISS that issuing shares to provide equity to their team causes dilution, even if the companies repurchase an equal number of shares in the marketplace.
Risk and Resilience | Article
3 February 2026 - In 2025, activists launched a record 255 global campaigns, topping the prior peak from 2018 and rising about 5 percent year over year. Q3 alone set a quarterly record with 61 campaigns. For corporate boards, scrutiny is intensifying, expectations are rising, and both strong balance sheets and weak governance can attract attention from activists.
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3 February 2026 - Sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) are rapidly emerging as the world’s dominant long-term investors.
Governance | Article
28 January 2026 - In governance circles, few topics generate more debate than whether the CEO should also serve as board chair. Regulators in some markets have taken firm positions, and activists often argue that separation between the two roles is a universal best practice.
Investor-Corporate Engagement | Article
26 November 2025 - Without disciplined capital allocation, buybacks can signal weakness, not strength. According to a recent MarketWatch article, analysts have labeled Apple’s $100 billion announcement “disappointing” — not because it was small, but because it failed to set a new record.
Risk and Resilience | Article
25 November 2025 - Which is worse: missing a major disruption that creates a new long-term equilibrium, or overreacting to a temporary event that soon reverts to prior conditions? Long-term investors dislike feeling exposed, underprepared, or unaware of potential risks. Fortunately, there are steps they can take to prepare their organizations for geopolitical turbulence.
Article
3 October 2025 - Research has consistently shown that the quarterly corporate cycle in the United States drives a myopic focus on meeting short-term targets over sustainable value creation.
Innovation | Article
29 September 2025 - Optimists call it “the fourth industrial revolution.” Skeptics have called it “the end of the human race.” Regardless of where you stand, artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming how companies operate—from efficiency gains to headcount reductions to sweeping changes in capital allocation.
Innovation | Article
18 September 2025 - At first glance, headlines suggest AI has overpromised and underdelivered. But the real issue is not technology. It is timing.
Investor-Corporate Engagement | Article
23 June 2025 - The global proxy system is at a crossroads. Frustrations from investors and issuers in the proxy process are leading to frequent headlines from both camps calling for reform, but solutions have been elusive. Furthermore, frustrations with the proxy process are often cited as one of the reasons companies question the need to be publicly listed, especially given the rise of private markets investing in the last decade.
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22 April 2025 - From strategic supply chain realignment to national investments in AI and digital infrastructure, several emerging markets (EM) are laying the groundwork for building structural resilience. While not evenly distributed, these trends are already reshaping the long-term opportunity set in select economies.