Finance Minister Emmanuel Macron, asked about the CEO pensions cap, states: « My belief is that any additional pension system is legitimate provided it is based on a contribution of the employee. Some of these pension schemes are not: they are simply a perpetual annuity, a deferred income for the person who has never contributed to the plan. This will not be possible. I prefer a system that better rewards performance and risk to a system that promotes an annuity. »
The Minister’s opinion is respectable and we respect it all the better that we share it.
But is the question of the CEO pension not the responsibility of the Directors and ultimately the shareholders of companies?
What a failure of the directors and what a lack of engagement on the part of investors when a minister is obliged to intervene on such a secundary subject. One of the many reasons for these weakness il also in this government distaste for clear management responsibility and fair shareholders democracy: as underlined by Les Echos, the 2014 Florange law generalizes the double voting right and puts an end to the Board’s neutrality in case of public offer.
Directors fail accordingly to their duty, too torn by conflicts of interest, managerial proximity, and the influence of a universal banking regime, big banks of which this minister is the protector.
Incidentally, this Finance Minister is still expected on the Hollande candidate promise of truly reforming finance.
When will the real reform of efficiency occur, the split of these universal banks?
It is vital that the taxpayer guarantee be limited to only banking deposits and that these groups no longer compete under the guarantee of the State umbrella against independent private companies of many non-banking sectors.
