Benfield hits back at corporate governance criticism

THE powerful arbiters of best boardroom practice have come under fire for a string of alleged errors in their assessment of a British listed company.

Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), which names companies with corporate governance shortcomings for the National Association of Pension Funds, was accused of “wildly inaccurate results” by Benfield, the insurance broker, yesterday.

Other UK companies are understood to have complained to ISS about its methodology in an ambitious new project with the FTSE Group, the independent company that reviews firms on the stock market. Their Corporate Governance Index series, launched this month, scores every British listed company on more than 50 measures of good governance — from boardroom attendance levels to directors’ pay and the integrity of the audit process.

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