Dear Mr Robinson,
It was interesting to read your recent article in Investors Chronicle on the Clas Ohlson AGM and corporate governance in Sweden.
I and another of our directors recently visited Günter Marder and the Swedish Shareholders Association to learn more about their activities and corporate governance in Sweden. The key point I would make is that Clas Ohlson is not an exception. Annual General Meetings in Sweden are generally well attended, including by institutions. They have a much more vibrant form of shareholder democracy, and that is not just because the Swedish Shareholders Association are more aggressive or more organised – their legal framework and culture is very different.
AGMs in Sweden actually decide on the appointment of a Nomination Committee that determines who is on the board and what they get paid, so they are not toothless conventions as they are in the UK.
The UK could certainly learn a lot from the way affairs are organised in Sweden, and we said this in essence in our submission to the Kay Review – present on our web site. We are particularly keen on the introduction of “Shareholder Committees” – equivalent to the Swedish Nomination Committees, but there are other differences in the Swedish model that are also significant.
Indeed we did suggest when we met the folks at the BIS recently who are working on the Kay Review that they actually go to Sweden to learn more. There are significant problems in UK equity markets in our view which need tackling vigorously – not another damp squib like the Turner report.
Roger Lawson, Chairman, ShareSoc
