The Committee is chaired by Dr William Crist, Emeritus Professor of Economics at California State University, Stanislaus, and former chairman of CalPERS, and comprises governance and fund management experts from the US, Europe and Asia Pacific. Its role is to ensure the suitability and market acceptance of the FTSE ISS Corporate Governance ratings and indexes. The Committee is scheduled to meet twice each year.
During the meeting, the Committee was presented with the ratings approach and the first phase of the index design.
Mark Makepeace, Chief Executive, FTSE Group said, “FTSE and ISS have collaborated throughout 2004 to assess and identify the most accurate and useful way to construct a tool that allows investors to understand the impact of corporate governance on the share price performance of companies worldwide. Today’s meeting with leading corporate governance experts is an important step forward for our new index series.”
Jamie Heard, Vice Chairman, Institutional Shareholder Services said, “Increasingly, investment professionals worldwide are factoring corporate governance into their investment decision-making processes. The FTSE ISS Corporate Governance Index provides an important tool for investors to manage risk and drive value.”
Dr William Crist, FTSE ISS Corporate Governance Advisory Committee Chairman adds, "The importance of good corporate governance to the bottom line is no longer questioned. Which companies have good governance and which companies do not has become valuable information to institutional investors. I am excited about the potential value of this new index series as a useful tool."
A full list of Committee members, and their biographies can be accessed from www.ftse.com/media_centre.
