The Times
May 21, 2009
Miles Costello and Robin Pagnamenta
Leading investor groups are calling for company directors in charge of pay policy to stand for re-election every year, as the City steps up its campaign to improve boardroom practice on remuneration.
The Co-operative Asset Management, an ethically minded investment group, said that chairmen of remuneration committees in all listed companies should put their jobs to an annual shareholder vote.
Abigail Herron, corporate governance analyst with the Co-op, said: It would enable shareholders to hold the chairmen of remuneration committees to account, rather than have to wait three years until they come up for re-election.
It is understood that the Association of British Insurers (ABI), whose members control more than 15 per cent of the stock market, is considering making a similar call as part of its efforts to make companies more transparent and accountable on pay. The ABI is likely to recommend the annual re-election of committee chiefs as a gold standard for listed companies.
Ms Herron said that the Co-ops new policy grew out of its frustration over pay practices at Royal Dutch Shell, the oil group, whose remuneration report was defeated by investors at its annual meeting on Tuesday.
The Co-op, alongside Standard Life Investments, spoke out against Shells discretionary remuneration policy before the vote. The two managers condemned share awards made to company directors even though Shell missed a key performance target.
There are only so many times you can vote against a remuneration report and see no action taken, Ms Herron said.
The Co-op is to write to all companies in which it invests, outlining its revised approach. Its top ten shareholdings include GlaxoSmithKline, the drug group, HSBC, the bank, and Rio Tinto, the miner.
At Shells meeting, Jorma Ollila, its chairman, promised to consult shareholders on ways to improve practice.
Shell said that it had already agreed to some changes in its pay arrangements before the defeat on Tuesday but would consider wider reforms.
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
