Global governance

ICC Roundtable addresses corporate governance issues

  • 18 March 2005

Business leaders, investors and experts from across the globe will converge in Istanbul next month to share experiences on key corporate governance issues.

On 21 and 22 April, the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) is holding a colloquium in Turkey on financial services and insurance issues. For all companies doing business in the region, this is a unique opportunity to meet with top-level government officials and experts on issues that are of the utmost importance to their core activities. Questions to be addressed include:

What are the benefits of good corporate governance?
How to strike the right balance between family and business interests?
How to establish an effective board?
How to balance majority and minority interests?
What is the corporate governance impact on investment portfolios?
Turkey is a gateway to Asia, Eastern Europe, the Middle-East and North Africa, regions that are on their way to becoming key markets in the world for financial and insurance services. Recent reports indicate that emerging markets, long associated with extreme boom-and-bust cycles, may finally be gaining some stability, and investors are increasingly adding emerging markets stocks to their portfolios.

Guler Manisali-Darman, an international governance expert, and author of the ICC publication Corporate Governance Worldwide said: “Despite these positive developments, governance issues continue to plague emerging markets. One of the most effective tools for making a business work is to have in place a well-established structure of governance, carefully balancing the interests of majority and minority stakeholders, enhancing transparency, and fighting corruption.

“We hope this Roundtable will help companies to implement such structures and thereby improve their corporate governance”, added Ms Manisali-Darman.

The Turkish government will be represented at the highest level and leading international authorities including Dr. Dogan Canszlar, Chairman, Capital Markets Board of Turkey, and Professor Stavros Thomadakis, Chair of the Public Interest Oversight Board of the International Federation of Accountants, will address the participants.

Speakers and panellists from companies at different stages of implementing governance measures, the investment community, professional groups, regulatory bodies and other organizations that have an interest and stake in strengthening corporate governance practices will also be attending. Invited speakers include:

American Institute of Certified Public Accountants
Bilkent Holding
Borsa Milano
Cairo Alexandria Stock Exchange
Center of International Private Enterprise (CIPE)
Corporate Governance Association of Turkey
C&S International
Deloitte & Touche
European Corporate Governance Forum (ECGN)
First Eastern Investment Group
Goldman Sachs
Governance Performance Management
Hermes
International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN)
Istanbul Stock Exchange
Lebanese Corporate Governance Task Force
McKinsey
Moroccan Employers Federation
Nestor Advisors
Nomura Securities
Nuqul Group
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
Standard & Poor’s
State Street Global Advisors
The World Bank
The Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB)

The ICC Roundtable follows two days of OECD Expert Meetings, also taking place in Istanbul, to discuss matters of specific relevance to non-listed companies. ICC has coordinated with the OECD so that the ICC Roundtable will be enriched by some of the findings of the OECD Expert Meetings.

After the Roundtable, ICC’s Commission on Financial Services and Insurance will meet to decide business policy on key issues including liberalization of financial services and insurance, audit rotation, international financial reporting standards, Basel II and outsourcing.