高盛董事会改革越改越独裁

   “达成交易”已深深地溶入了高盛（Goldman Sachs）的血液，而且他们精于此道。但随着周四高盛在印度召开董事会会议，日前达成的一宗协议即将首次试水，这宗协议可不是对谁都是件好事，因为高盛的公司治理进一步恶化。

    高盛似乎很满意自己与美国州县市雇员联盟（American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees，简称AFSCME）养老基金讨价还价的结果。根据协议，美国州县市雇员联盟撤回了原先的建议，即应让股东投票决定是否要将高盛的首席执行官和董事长职务分别由两人担任。高盛的2011年和2012年公司治理指引称，董事会将“至少每年对管理层架构进行一次评估”，在作出相关决定时会考虑“公司股东的观点”。但发言人戴维•韦尔斯表示，高盛很高兴今年能避免就这一话题进行股东投票。他说：“我们很高兴与美国州县市雇员联盟进行了富有建设性的对话。”

    作为交换，高盛同意将公司治理与任命委员会主席的职务名称从“独立主持董事（presiding director）”改为“首席独立董事（lead director）”，并新增了一些职责。

    美国州县市雇员联盟养老金计划的资本市场策略总监丽萨•林德斯莱表示，她“很高兴（双方达成了这样的谅解]），但它只是一个临时性的安排，并不是最终的董事会架构。”“我们希望看到一位独立的主席，”她说。“董事会存在一些严重的治理问题。一位董事会成员可能（涉嫌）在董事会会议期间进行内幕交易。而且他还是一位独立董事。”

    林德斯莱称，美国州县市雇员联盟养老基金之所以决定与高盛达成协议，是因为他们希望能“更理性、更有建设性地重建双方的关系”。她说，高盛已同意进行进一步的讨论，但目前时间还没有确定，她希望能与高盛进行持续的治理对话。

    不幸的是，这个协议细则远远不止是一个令人大失所望的临时性安排，情况其实更糟糕。它将使原本就势单力薄的独立董事进一步处于首席执行官劳埃德•布兰克费恩的掌控之下。

    萨班斯-奥克斯利法案（Sarbanes-Oxley）规定，上市公司必须召开无公司高管在场的独立董事行政会议，独立董事普遍对此持欢迎态度。独立董事应该主导这些会议，包括会议的内容和召开的时机。摩根大通（JP Morgan）在其指引中正确地描述了行政会议的操作模式。“独立董事们通常会将行政会议作为每次定期董事会会议的一部分……这些会议将为独立董事们提供一个机会，讨论他们认为需要讨论的话题。”在这一点上，我赞成高盛复制摩根大通的做法。

    但根据本月生效的新方案，高盛首席执行官布兰克费恩将会为独立董事的行政会议确定议程。新的指引规定，将通过新的首席独立董事要求布兰克费恩 “列出独立董事行政会议讨论的议题”。

    Deal making runs deep in the veins of Goldman Sachs -- and they are good at it. But one recent transaction which will be in play as the board meets in India today isn't a good deal for everyone: governance at Goldman just got worse.

    For its part, the bank seems to be pleased with its side of the bargain with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees pension fund. The agreement eliminates an AFSCME proposal, which would have given shareholders a vote on whether Goldman's CEO and chair roles should be split. Both the bank's 2011 and 2012 corporate governance guidelines say the board will "review its leadership structure at least annually" and the board will consider "the views of the Company's shareholders" in making that decision. But spokesperson David Wells suggests the bank is happy to have dodged a shareholder vote on this topic this year: "We appreciated the constructive talks with AFSCME," he says.

    In exchange for the withdrawal of the proposal, Goldman (GS) agreed to change the title of its chair of the corporate governance and nominating committee from "presiding director" to "lead director" and add a few additional responsibilities to the role.

    Lisa Lindsley, director of capital markets strategies at AFSCME's pension plan says she was "happy with [the compromise] as an interim step but not as an ultimate board structure." "We want to see an independent chair," she told me. "This board has some serious governance issues. A board member [allegedly] doing insider trading during a board meeting? And he was an independent director."

    Lindsley says the pension fund had decided to reach the agreement with Goldman because they wanted to "be reasonable, reframe their relationship and be more constructive." She says the bank had agreed to be more open to conversation but no schedule has been set for what she hopes will be ongoing dialogue on governance issues with the firm.

    Unfortunately, the fine print of the current agreement is much worse than a disappointing interim step. It places weak independent board members even more under the thumb of CEO Lloyd Blankfein.

    Sarbanes-Oxley mandated that public companies hold executive sessions in which a company's independent directors meet with no member of management present, which independent directors universally applaud. Independent directors should control those sessions, the content, and the timing. JP Morgan (JPM), in its guidelines, rightly describes how executive sessions should operate. "The independent directors will generally meet in executive session as part of each regularly scheduled board meeting... These sessions will provide the opportunity for discussion of such other topics as the independent directors may find appropriate." In this case, I would approve Goldman's copying off JPMorgan's paper.

    But under the new plan -- not in place until this month -- Blankfein will get to shape the agenda for those sessions. Through the new lead director, the CEO will be asked "to identify matters for discussion at executive sessions of the independent directors," the new guidelines state.