Political uncertainty in Brazil has cast doubt on the possibility of further corporate governance reforms at the regulatory level. However, over the last five years, Brazilians have taken many steps toward improving corporate governance standards and professionalizing board structures. The discussion will address the state of corporate governance in Brazil as well as the challenges associated with reform. From the recent launch of Brazil's Stewardship Code to Vale's path-breaking election of... read more

Investors rely on government fiscal data to assess creditworthiness. Yet many governments do not produce basic or complete fiscal data. The event will focus on fiscal openness and budget transparency in emerging markets. The discussion will address questions such as: (1) How are governments performing on fiscal openness and budget transparency and why does it matter?  (2) How do closed fiscal policies and budgets contribute to systemic risks and open ones reduce risks? (3) Which fiscal... read more

Oil, gas, and mining agreements signed between governments and companies have traditionally been classified, but norms and regulations are shifting towards increased transparency. Around 40 governments have officially published these contracts, and organizations like the International Monetary Fund, the International Finance Corporation, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development are actively encouraging the practice of disclosure. We brought investors together to discuss why this... read more

On October 16, 2017, the Alliance hosted a discussion with Mr. Rajeeva Bandaranaike, the CEO of the Colombo Stock Exchange, on corporate governance issues in Sri Lanka. As the Exchange’s listing rules play a crucial role in shaping corporate governance practices, the event presented an opportunity for investors to understand and address challenges to promoting good governance and operational transparency. The occasion also allowed for dialogue between investors and the leadership of the... read more

Discussion with Lorena Rivero, Ministry of Finance and Public Credit, Mexico Kathrin Frauscher, Open Contracting Partnership (OCP)   Inefficiency and corruption in public procurement represent a massive fiscal burden for emerging markets. Out of the $9.5 trillion spent each year on government procurement (15% of the global GDP), the UN estimates that corruption and fraud may amount to 20-25%. Mexico has been at the forefront of addressing this problem through an... read more

In recent years, environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing has grown in popularity in virtually all asset classes. Despite the robust performance of many ESG indexes since the global financial crisis, investors still express skepticism about alpha potential or ascribe the observed benefits to more traditional factors. This is especially true among emerging market (EM) investors where ESG is poorly understood. This event aimed to educate emerging market investors as to the current... read more

The Samarco tailings dam failure, the community opposition to Newmont Mining’s Conga project and Southern Copper’s Tia Maria projects in Peru, and the issue of declining water supplies in Chile have highlighted the importance of water related risks in the mining sector. Several trends suggest that water (intake and discharge) will increasingly become a primary risk in mining investments: More waste must be securely stored as falling grades require more ore to be processed. Mining... read more

Government contracting of projects and services, which represents trillions of dollars of expenditure and about 15% of the global GDP, is often prone to inefficiency and corruption. Dishonesty and mismanagement can result in the downfall of projects and of companies that receive contracts, as recent developments in Brazil have shown. Recent innovations in open contracting policies and practices have aimed to combat these issues by implementing new standards of fairness and transparency... read more

After ending 2014 with major corporate scandals in China (GlaxoSmithKline), Brazil (Petrobras) and Portugal (Banco Espírito Santo), some investors thought we were back to business as usual in 2015. Instead, Brazil’s Operação Lava Jato (Operation Car Wash) corruption probe mushroomed to an even broader investigation that has entwined senior management at some of the country’s largest corporations and dragged a number of bonds and stocks to distressed levels. These recent scandals are happening... read more

In the EU, US, Canada, and Norway, new laws requiring stricter mandatory disclosures about financial flows between natural resource companies and governments could reduce the risk of Petrobras style scandals. In the UK, for example, all LSE listed oil, gas, and mining companies must as of 2016 disclose tax, royalty, and other payments on a country-by-country and project-by-project basis. In the US, Dodd-Frank (Section 1504) requires similar disclosures but has yet to be implemented.... read more