沃尔玛和摩根大通忽视股东酿大祸
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无独有偶 除了沃尔玛之外，摩根大通去年也没有注意股东针对该公司风险委员会发出的警报。在一封2011年3月18日寄出的信中，CtW投资集团常务董事比尔•帕特森向摩根大通董事会警告，摩根大通的风险监管存在“严重缺陷”，并表示董事会不应该被“CEO杰米•戴蒙头上积累的赞美之辞”蒙蔽了。 在去年四月的一次会议上，摩根大通董事会风险委员会主席詹姆斯•克劳恩充分表达了他对摩根大通应对经济危机的方式的信心——这是CtW投资集团高级政策分析师迈克尔•普莱斯•琼斯告诉我的，他也参加了那次会议。另外克劳恩还在会上表示，他对摩根大通的风险官巴里•朱布罗有充分的信心。摩根大通的风险偏好声明就是克劳恩与朱布罗共同执笔的。根据普莱斯•琼斯的会议记录，克劳恩还质问股东们，让一个外部顾问审核公司的做法能有什么好处。“如果你的公司里已经有了最聪明的人，为什么还要从别人那获得信息呢？”据普莱斯•琼斯说，这就是克劳恩的基本态度。摩根大通拒绝对此事发表评论。 并不是所有企业的董事会都认同外部顾问能给自己带来好处。但在那些卓有成效的董事会里，独立董事们往往都承认，如果他们只是简单地向内部看，不一定会知道所有的事。股东们有时会成为董事会成员的最好盟友，他们能就一些问题向董事会发出警报，而这些问题往往是董事会通过其它方法无法发现的。 眼下又到了董事会换届的时候，各企业的董事会都在讨论如何才能改善与公司股东的关系，以及如何能从投资人那里获得更多的第一手经验，以扩大他们的视野。沃尔玛和摩根大通的例子就是很好的警示：如果股东们不停地敲你的门，那么董事会成员们应该听听他们说些什么。 本文作者Eleanor Bloxham是董事会咨询机构价值联盟与企业管理联盟（The Value Alliance and Corporate Governance Alliance）的CEO。 译者：朴成奎 |
Wal-Mart is not alone J.P. Morgan's board also failed to heed warnings from shareholders about its risk committee last year. In a letter dated March 18, 2011, Bill Patterson, executive director of CtW Investment group, warned the bank's board of "serious deficiencies" related to its risk oversight, saying the board should not be lulled by "the praise heaped on CEO Jamie Dimon." James Crown, who led the board's risk committee, expressed full confidence in the bank's handling of the financial crisis in a meeting last April, Michael Pryce-Jones, senior policy analyst at CtW Investement Group, who had attended the meeting told me. Crown also expressed full confidence in J.P. Morgan's risk officer Barry Zubrow, with whom he effectively co-authored the bank's risk appetite statement. Crown also questioned the benefits to shareholders of having an outside advisor review its practices according to Pryce-Jones' notes from the meeting. "When you have the smartest people in the business, why get information from anyone else?" was the general attitude Crown expressed, according to Pryce-Jones. J.P. Morgan declined to offer comment for this story. Not all boards yet recognize the benefits, but independent directors on effective boards recognize that they will not know everything they need to if they simply look inward for guidance. Shareholders can be board members' best allies when it comes to alerting to troubles directors may not otherwise see. Among stronger boards of directors this proxy season, directors are holding discussions on how they can improve companies' shareholder relationships and how they can get more first-hand experience with investors to gain their insights. The Wal-Mart and J.P. Morgan cases are clear-cut: when shareholders keep knocking, it behooves board members to listen. Eleanor Bloxham is CEO of The Value Alliance and Corporate Governance Alliance (http://thevaluealliance.com), a board advisory firm. |
