I am Joint vice chair of LAPFF and am really pleased with our role in getting the senior managers to resign but we are at best "skeptical about the timing and terms of departure of these executive"
The Forum has reservations about the timing and terms
of departure
London 14.00 (BST) LAPFF welcomes Rio Tinto’s announcement that CEO Jean-Sebastian Jacques and two of his senior executive colleagues have resigned in the wake of the company’s destruction of the caves at Juukan Gorge.
These departures were inevitable
after a swell of investor concern that insufficient accountability had been
exercised in response to the disaster, which the company Chair has described as
‘wrong’.
However, the Forum is skeptical
about the timing and terms of departure of these executives. The fact that Mr.
Jacques could remain in place until March of 2021 is of a serious concern, and
the Forum does not consider it right that these executives should retain their
long-term incentive remuneration arrangements and other leaving benefits.
This response raises additional
questions about the strength and composition of the board and its ability to
enforce appropriate accountability and good governance at Rio Tinto.
Cllr Doug McMurdo, Chair of Local
Authority Pension Fund Forum, said: ‘The departures of the CEO and the two other
senior executives is a promising outcome, though I do have serious reservations
about the terms and timings of the departures. Going forward, board composition
is absolutely critical for Rio Tinto to regain trust with investors and
communities.’
11
September 2020
About the Local Authority Pension Fund Forum: The Local Authority Pension Fund Forum (LAPFF) is a voluntary association of 81 public sector pension funds and six pools based in the UK with combined assets of over £300 billion. It exists to ‘promote the long-term investment interests of local authority pension funds, and to maximise their influence as shareholders to promote corporate responsibility and high standards of corporate governance amongst the companies in which they invest.’ PIRC is the Research and Engagement partner to the Forum @lapfforum https://lapfforum.org/.
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