Going Public: Prudent Sustainable Corporate Governance Necessary (in German)

The EU Commission is proposing that companies should be obliged to balance the interests of all their stakeholders. However, such a general obligation will not lead to companies being managed more sustainably, criticises Dr. Cordula...

Going Public: No successful BaFin reform without reform of its financing! (in German)

In the wake of the Wirecard affair, a reform of the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) is pending. The Balance sheet control is to be reorganised and removed from the German Financial Reporting Enforcement Panel. The...

Der Konzern: Assessment of audit quality by the audit committee - Effective quality improvement or toothless paper tiger? (in German)

Jan Bremer, Head of the Legal Department, Nico Zimmermann, Capital Market Law and Corporate Governance Officer, Deutsches Aktieninstitut, and Prof. Dr. Franca Ruhwedel, Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences, present the key findings...

Assuring the quality of the statutory audit - recommendations from practice (in German)

Industry knowledge, professional experience and tone from the top play a key role in audit quality. This is shown by the study published today by Deutsches Aktieninstitut "Audit Quality Indicators & Beyond", which looks at the topic of...

Audit Quality Indicators & Beyond – A survey of auditors, audit committee members and chief financial officers on the audit committee's assessment of audit quality (in German)

A reliable audit is in the interest of all stakeholders. The Wirecard case has once again brought the discussion on audit quality into sharper focus. Due to the importance of the topic, we have investigated the question of how the...

BOARD: Reform of the Annual General Meeting to be tackled before the Bundestag elections

The general meeting of the future must be made fit for the future, state Dr Christine Bortenlänger and Sven Erwin Hemeling. This requires a legal framework that safeguards investor rights and at the same time creates legal certainty for...

No compulsory shareholder identification (in German)

According to the plans of the federal government, listed companies are to be obliged under tax legislation to carry out a shareholder query on the day of the general meeting in order to transmit the resulting data to the Federal Central...

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung: Well meant! Well done?

The President of Deutsches Aktieninstitut, Dr Hans-Ulrich Engel, subjects the newly adopted "Finanzmarktintegritätsstärkungsgesetz" to a practical check. He describes the risks of short rotation periods, calls for advisory services not...

Börsen-Zeitung: Financial market integrity - Not at the expense of compliant companies!

With the recently discussed Financial Market Integrity Strengthening Act (Finanzmarktintegritätsstärkungsgesetz), the political processing of the Wirecard case is entering the decisive phase. In her contribution, Dr Christine...

HV-Magazin: Legal uncertainty at an unseasonable time

The short-term rule changes for the virtual general meeting at the end of 2020 have led to uncertainty among companies, especially with regard to the newly introduced right to ask questions. According to Dr Franz-Josef Leven, it would...

Der Aufsichtsrat: The future of shareholder meetings - Updates are needed

The traditional general meeting needs an update. Dr Christine Bortenlänger and Sven Erwin Hemeling outline in their article how the general meeting can be further developed so that companies can hold physical and virtual general meetings...

Audit Committee Quarterly: Wirecard legislation - Avoiding negative consequences for law-abiding companies

With the draft of a law to strengthen financial market integrity (FISG), it is becoming apparent what regulatory consequences can be expected after the Wirecard case. In their article for the Audit Committee Quarterly, Dr Christine...

SE companies need more flexibility

Companies with their legal statute of a Societas Europaea (SE) are currently required to hold their general meetings within the first six months following the end of the previous financial year. However, the corona pandemic with social...

General Meetings without compulsory attendance become possible (in German)

Deutsches Aktieninstitut welcomes the draft on the General Meeting without the shareholders’ personal attendance. Due to the lack of the necessary infrastructure, the possibility to ask questions during the online General Meeting must be...

Corona: Deutsches Aktieninstitut requests emergency parliamentary act for the benefit of listed companies (in German)

Governmental orders to ban public assemblies and to curtail public life in order to prevent the spread of the corona-virus largely affect the general assemblies of listed companies in the current season. In order to maintain the...

At times of Corona: General meetings without compulsory attendance required (in German)

The bans and restrictions on events in response to the corona pandemic make it extremely difficult for companies to hold general meetings as face-to-face events. In a position paper published today, Deutsches Aktieninstitut therefore...

A shareholders' meeting is no soccer match (in German)

With a view to the beginning of the annual general meeting season, Deutsches Aktieninstitut is calling for individual case examinations to be permitted at annual general meetings. Companies that are legally obliged to hold shareholders'...

Stricter liability of the Management Board is to be rejected (In German)

The AFD parliamentary group wants to reform §148 AktG in order to make it easier to make the Executive Board of private companies easier liable. Deutsches Aktieninstitut sees no reason to tighten the current law. On the contrary, it...

Revision of the German Corporate Governance Code (in German)

Deutsches Aktieninstitut has commented on the revision of the German Corporate Governance Code proposed by Regierungskommission Deutscher Corporate Governance Kodex. The determination of independence of Supervisory Board members by...

Proposal for the fourth amendment of the German Reorganization of Companies Act (UmwG) (in German)

Deutsches Aktieninstitut welcomes the proposal to give companies with British legal forms the possibility to reorganize safely into a German legal form. Expanding the scope of application for cross-border mergers to allow foreign...

Deutsches Aktieninstitut Warns of Imbalanced Legislation for EU Representative Action

Deutsches Aktieninstitut fears that the EU Commission’s legislative proposal on representative actions will – if adopted unchanged – create more problems than it will solve. The level of safeguards against abusive litigation remains far...

Proposals for the Revision of the German Corporate Governance Codex (in German)

Deutsches Aktieninstitut takes a position to the indicated structural changes of the German Corporate Governance Codex and makes content-related suggestions for said revision of the Codex. From the perspective of Deutsches...

German Federal Government's Draft of a Civil Proceedings Model Case Act (in German)

In its comments on the German Federal Government's draft of a civil proceedings model case act, Deutsches Aktieninstitut calls for the adoption of stricter rules assessing the admission-procedure of claims in order to prevent abusive...

Whistleblower Protection does not Require EU Regulatory Action

In its short position on the occasion of the EU Commission’s public consultation on whistleblower protection, Deutsches Aktieninstituts supports the implementation of well-balanced protection mechanisms into the compliance management...

No Audit Obligation of the Supervisory Board! - Transposition of European CSR-Directive to Be Finalized (In German)

Deutsches Aktieninstitut welcomes the objective of the government draft bill for a ‘one to one’-transposition of the European CSR Directive into German law. This intention should be pursued in an even more consistent manner. From the...

Guiding Principles for the Dialogue between Investor and Supervisory Board (In German)

Deutsches Aktieninstitut supports the new guiding principles for the dialogue between investors and supervisory board published today by the initiative “Developing Shareholder Communication”.

Kurvenlage - Semi-Annual Report of Deutsches Aktieninstitut, 1st Term 2015 (in German)

Focus: 50 years German stock corporation law

Board of Deutsches Aktieninstitut Confirms Werner Bauman as President (in German)

At its constitutive meeting the newly elected board of Deutsches Aktieninstitut unanimously confirmed Werner Baumann, Chief Strategy and Portfolio Officer of Bayer AG, as President of Deutsches Aktieninstitut.

Kurvenlage - Semi-Annual Report of Deutsches Aktieninstitut, 1st Term 2014 (in German)

Focus: Europe has voted

Deutsches Aktieninstitut will provide the office of the Commission German Corporate Governance Code (in German)

In today's general meeting the members of Deutsches Aktieninstitut decided to provide the office of the Commission German Corporate Governance Code in the future. As an instrument of self-regulation the German Corporate Governance Code...

Deutsches Aktieninstitut is going to become the office for the Government Commission of the German Corporate Governance Code (in German)