Pension Funds Ask - "Who is Responsible for Risk Oversight?"
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In "Bear's board was busy elsewhere," Financial News reporter Jeff Nash (March 31, 2008) writes that the investment bank's board has been busy, with three individuals doing work for "at least four other public companies" and two "of those three extremely busy directors" doing double duty as members of the risk committee. Corporate governance pundits add that outside distractions do little to help business fiduciaries carry out critical risk oversight duties.
Wall Street Journal reporter George Anders likewise addresses the question of where the buck stops, or if it arrived at all. In "Wall Street Housecleaning May Bypass Boardroom," the executive director of the $12 billion Illinois State Board of Investment, William R. Atwood puzzles over the involvement of directors as relates to sub-prime losses, wondering if "directors at big banks and Wall Street firms share some responsibility for what has gone wrong." Others quoted in the April 2, 2008 article counter that it may be ill-advised to unseat veteran directors. New appointees face a steep learning curve that exposes a company to risk of another kind.
The courts will surely play a prominent role in determining who pays (if at all) as shareholders and pension plan participants file lawsuits aplenty.
