From the category archives:

Subprime Meltdown

Still Searching for Signs of Life on the Bear Stearns Board

May 4, 2010

Corporate governance at the failed Wall Street giant had all the hallmarks of a disengaged boardroom stacked with cronies and dominated by insiders. Finally, Congress can shed some light on where the board was at Bear Stearns — or if it existed at all. Former Bear Stearns CEO James Cayne will be making a rare [...]

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The Examiner of Lehman’s Untoasted Boardroom Marshmallows

March 14, 2010

The court-appointed Examiner chose to continue the same lackadaisical approach to directorial performance and accountability in his search for answers as the directors themselves evidenced in their drowsy drift toward disaster. A little noted statement in the report of the court-appointed Examiner in the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy reveals the extent of the deference displayed to [...]

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“Catch Me if You Can” and Other Fine Relics from the Lehman Boardroom

March 11, 2010

Once again, an inept board escapes culpability through a Houdini-like contrivance called the business judgment rule, one of the most anti-shareholder and destructive of legal principles ever to emerge in modern times. Lehman Brothers made a brief return in the news today, just long enough to fall into another abyss of folly and misjudgment that [...]

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Question for Secretary Geithner: What Does “Recuse” Mean?

January 27, 2010

In his sworn testimony today before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner reasserted that he had recused himself from making any decision in connection with AIG payments to Goldman Sachs in November 2008.  But he also testified that he was made aware by Fed officials that the payments [...]

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Reshuffling the Crew on the Citigroup Titanic

January 22, 2009

True to form for a company that has proven itself consistently too late and too slow, Citi’s board is now moving backwards with the choice of its new chairman, Richard D. Parsons.  Mr. Parsons is part of the old guard and has been a director since 1996.  He is among the crew that missed more [...]

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Outrage of the Week: The Two Americas

January 16, 2009

On one side, there are the quiet heroes who perform deeds of courage and generosity every day, often saving their fellow citizens from disaster. On the other, there are the overpaid CEOs at Citigroup and Bank of America who cannot even save their own companies from their misguided schemes and have made them financial wards [...]

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Two Faces of Governance at Citigroup

January 12, 2009

  The board says it continues to stand behind current management, led by CEO Vikram Pandit.  But can a board stand up while sleeping?   This is a question investors must ponder. If you are wondering how Citigroup could have lost tens of billions, seen the value of its stock pared by more than three-quarters, and [...]

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Brazil Interview on CEO Pay

December 22, 2008

My interview with AE Investimentos in Brazil on the hot topic of CEO pay is carried in its December issue. Executive remuneration and the role it has played in promoting the excessive risks and leverage that helped give birth to the current economic crisis are placing boards and pay rewards under a microscope as never [...]

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In the New York Post

November 25, 2008

Our comments about Citigroup’s hapless board of directors made their way into the New York Post today in a piece by business journalist Paul Tharp. Some of the observations first made here at Finlay ON Governance were reflected in the Post’s editorial, as well. The Post’s story got quite a lift, appearing in the headline [...]

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