News
London, 3rd September 2008. At an EGM of the International Investor Relations Federation Limited (IIRF) held today, the members agreed to dissolve the existing organisation and initiate a new body to be called the Global IR Network (GIRN), to focus more on sharing the experience and resources of the existing national societies, rather than on having to organise commercial activities in order to fund the international body.
Membership of GIRN will be open to all societies representing primarily investor relations professionals around the world. A new chairman will be elected by simple majority vote each year.
The initial objectives of the new network were agreed to be:
The chair society will host and organise meetings and specialty committees or task forces will be created to cover specific topics of interest (eg XBRL) as necessary.
GIRN plans to set up a website containing basic information on the network and the national societies as well as a collection of IR studies, and each member society will be expected to create an international page on their own web site, giving an international contact and links to other members' websites, as well as to education and course programmes, best practice guidelines and other useful information.
Membership of the network will be free, with the emphasis on the sharing of experience and resources by the member societies, with the larger members supporting the smaller or newer societies.
New chairman Ian Matheson said he was delighted with the agreement to form the Network: "This initiative was originally put forward by several of the more developed national societies, and it was great to see the support from the other former members of the IIRF. As our discipline becomes more global we all increasingly have to meet the international aspirations and needs of our own members, and none of us can afford to retain a purely domestic focus. We need to broaden and deepen the relationship between our societies and this was the initial premise of the Network.
"It is also clear that many of the national societies have developed significant resources in areas such as education and professional development, research and event management, so it makes more sense to share these between us than to develop an increasingly costly superstructure."
Outgoing chairman of the IIRF, Lynge Blak, hailed the formation of the new network as an endorsement of the achievements of its predecessor. "When the IIRF was established," he said, "there were just four national societies in the world - in Denmark, France the UK and USA. Its primary aim was always to promote the international development of the discipline encourage the formation of new national societies. The fact that there are now 25 of them, with enough resources to run a new network using their own resources, proves that the IIRF succeeded spectacularly in this prime objective.
With this new structure, the more mature members agree to encourage and support the newer IR associations. "The new Network should enable the national societies to share best practices and resources with the minimum complexity and cost. I would like to thank all those who have helped to get us this far, and wish the best of luck to those who will continue the good work."
For further Information Contact:
Ian Matheson
CEO
Australasian Investor Relations Association
Email: ian.matheson@aira.org.au
Tel. +61-419-444731
Lynge Blak
Financial Communication in Practice
China tel. +86 21 5497 2000 ext.41
China mob. +86 1381 7416145
China fax +86 21 5497 1507
Skype: lynge.blak
E-mail: lynge.blak@lbir.dk
Web: www.lyngeblak.dk
Published: 4 September, 2008