Standard Chartered denies criticism from biggest investor
STANDARD Chartered last night insisted that its largest investor, Singapore-based fund Temasek, misunderstood British corporate governance when it abstained from voting on several board members this year.
The 18 per cent shareholder is known to favour firms with a large proportion of non-executive board members.
“Temasek has assured us that their abstention does not imply any criticism of the individuals concerned, nor Standard Chartered’s performance,” a spokesperson said.
Four new non-executives joined the board last week, but the move was not thought to be in reaction to Temasek pressure.
The bank regularly changes external board members, with a total of 10 joining and 10 leaving since 2005 as part of a system of regularly refreshing the board.