South Africa Plans to Encourage Investor Activism, Business Report Says

South Africa has published a draft copy of an institutional shareholder code for responsible investing aimed at encouraging fund managers to disclose their voting records, Business Report said.

The draft code was released for debate yesterday, the Johannesburg-based newspaper said, citing John Oliphant, chief executive officer of the Government Employees Pension Fund and chairman of the committee that created the new code.

Institutional investors should be transparent about their policies, how the policies are implemented, and how the code is applied to enable stakeholders to make informed assessments, the code says, according to the newspaper. The code aims to boost shareholder activism and address a “critical flaw” in the King 3 code on corporate governance, which lacks the impetus needed to support shareholder activism, it said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Renee Bonorchis in Johannesburg at rbonorchis@bloomberg.net

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