Uno de los foros más activos e interesantes en materia de gobierno corporativo es el que ofrece desde hace años el European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI). Ha publicado su boletín correspondiente a la primavera de 2011, bajo el atractivo título Corporate governance and the new Financial Regulation: Complements or Substitutes?, en el que retoma materiales de conferencias precedentes organizadas por el mismo ECGI. El punto de encuentro entre las normas de gobierno corporativo y la regulación financiera es una de las preguntas que suscitó de inmediato la virulencia de la crisis de muchas entidades y de determinados sistemas y viene animando desde hace años los impulsos de reforma, internacionales y nacionales.
El planteamiento del boletín reseñado explica esa vinculación entre la disciplina del gobierno societario y la regulación financiera en los siguientes términos:
“A central theme in the outpouring of analysis on the causes of the global financial crisis is that large financial institutions created substantial amounts of systemic risk, which then was realized and nearly brought down the global financial system. Put in terms of corporate governance, two possibilities emerge. The management of large financial institutions was disloyal to shareholders, the agents taking more risk than their principals desired, perhaps encouraged by highly incentivised compensation schemes. Alternatively, management loyally took on excessive risk, benefitting the shareholders and externalising the costs to the public.
The first possibility suggests a traditional corporate governance response focusing on shareholders rights, in addition to reform of prudential regulation. The second possibility suggests greater emphasis on regulation, but with the possibility that the corporate governance system could be redesigned to internalise more systemic risk and to provide better protection for creditors. In both cases there is a need for a stronger resolution authority. What is the role of corporate governance in financial system reform? Are corporate governance and the new Financial Regulation complements or substitutes? If complements, how do we design their interaction?”
Madrid, 4 de mayo de 2011