News and views

Policy and the IR Society

With the continuing flow of new regulation and legislation from both the UK and Europe it is more than ever important for IROs to keep up to date. Under the chairmanship of Mark Hynes of Transparency Matters, the policy committee monitors and reviews regulation and legislation which impacts on IROs. The committee will help to draft appropriate briefing papers and alerts for members and prepares responses on behalf of the IR Society to the regulators.

As well as continuing to monitor regulation, the committee hosts a variety of events for members and publishes various updates in the Society’s weekly bulletins. In addition, the committee solicits views from members of the IR Society on key issues, providing briefing papers on hot topics and holds an annual IR Society Policy Forum.

The Policy Committee successfully lobbied the FSA to include CFDs and other derivatives in the significant shareholding notification regime. We have worked with ICSA to alert members to potential challenges from the ECB which may affect shareholder ID. We have developed a guide for members for the new UK Corporate Governance Code and we have responded to reviews by the FSA, FRC and the EU. With the debate on Corporate Governance gathering momentum and the new government proposing major changes to the regulatory framework through the abolition of the FSA and the potential re-introduction of the OFR, there looks like being plenty for us to get our teeth into.

The committee meets around every two months and we have special working groups who focus on issues such as regulation, disclosure and transparency.

Policy committee activities:

    * Meets approximately every two months
    * Monitors legislation
    * Responds to appropriate consultations
    * Provide briefing papers on key issues
    * Hosts discussion groups for members

These new developments provide an excellent opportunity for furthering the professional status of IR, increasing understanding of the legislation which really affects the day-to-day lives of our membership and promoting best practice.

The committee includes industry experts from fields such as corporate broking, legal advisory, financial public relations, registrars, accounting and auditing. It also includes senior in-house IROs,

If you have any views on policy, or would like to take part in the Policy Committee please contact Michael Mitchell at michael.mitchell@irs.org.uk.

IR and Markets committee (The Hundred Group)

    * Meets quarterly with Policy committee and gives views on key issues from FTSE 100 finance directors.