In cooperation with CFA Society Germany, CFA Institute has recently published a dual-language (English and German) report entitled Stakeholder Capitalism in Action. The paper throws a spotlight on the German model of corporate governance and presents a collection of local case studies.
The collaborative initiative has helped CFA Institute and the CFA Society® network to strengthen its offering in the field of corporate governance with key policy making audiences in the EU and member states.
Olivier Fines, CFA, Head of Advocacy and Policy Research, EMEA explained: “The realisation of this work involved a large number of people, both internally and externally, and has resulted in a selection of derivative products, which will be used to maximise the impact of this work with key stakeholders. This is the type of local society advocacy work that we are looking to replicate where relevant and possible and I would like to thank all involved for their dedication and attention to detail.”
The German model of corporate governance enshrines employee co-determination in law and provides for the establishment of Works Councils, which play an important mediating role between employers and employees within individual companies.
Susan Spinner, CFA, CEO, CFA Society Germany, commented: “Although the concept of co-determination was already familiar to us, we gained new insights on this topic through a series of interesting hands-on interviews with German companies. CFA Society Germany and CFA Institute worked closely together throughout the project, as we looked to define and refine the report’s focus, to create an advocacy work that reflected our joint objectives. We think that the result has been a great success and encourage other societies to create works which highlight their topics of interest.”
As the topic of the report is relevant both locally and regionally, it has been possible to share this with audiences that are important to both CFA Institute and the wider CFA Society community. CFA Institute produced a press release and infographics and CFA Society Germany created German versions. These were circulated across markets in Europe where the content was relevant and helped to raise the profile of the paper. Josina Kamerling also released an episode with the authors of the report on her CFA Institute Podcast “Let's Talk EU”, which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
In addition, CFA Society UK hosted a webinar discussing this report’s broad implications in January 2022, which was organised and moderated by Andy Burton, the advocacy lead at the local society. Speakers included the author of the report, Martina Bahl, CFA, Managing Director at Bahl Consulting; Susan Spinner, CFA, CEO of CFA Society Germany; Edward Smith, CFA, Co-Chief Investment Officer of Rathbones; and Oliver Gottlieb, CFA, Global Equity Analyst at GIB Asset Management. There are plans for CFA Institute to host an EU-focused webinar, using the research to weigh into the current debates on sustainable corporate governance.
Overall, this initiative has shown that by working together, CFA Institute and the CFA Society network can increase influence and strengthen awareness across a region.
View the full report here.
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