The Secretary of State for Business Vince Cable launched the first stage of a review into corporate governance and economic short-termism by issuing a call for evidence. The review aims to establish whether there are further issues affecting the functioning of capital markets and, if so, what are the causes. It considers the role of directors and shareholders and asks fundamental questions; for example, about shareholder engagement, market short-termism and the functioning of the investment chain in the UK.

This week has seen a number of stories about executive pay. We have had Shell announce that they will freeze executive directors' salaries for a year. The top two executives in Barclays have forgone their multi-million pound bonuses and cut their company's pay to revenue ratio from 44 per cent to 38 percent. Whereas HSBC is likely to court controversy with reports of 30 to 40 per cent salary increases for top executives.