CSR: Securities Exchanges and Regulators

Abstract

Governments play a variety of roles in the financial system including enforcing disclosure rules and norms that facilitate the transfer of information by those in need of capital to those will to provide capital in order to ensure that capital providers are able to make informed decisions about whether to invest or lend. One of the ways in which regulators intervene in the capital raising process is through the imposition of rules relating to corporate governance. While corporate governance has traditionally focused on the creation of value for the owners an enterprise, the emergence of corporate social responsibility (“CSR”) has expanded the scope of the corporate governance framework to include consideration of the interests of a wider group of stakeholders. These changes in the conceptualization of corporate governance are beginning to impact expectations regarding operations and disclosures that are imposed on companies that seek funding in capital markets and continuous attention must be paid to standards and rules adopted by securities exchanges and the governmental bodies that regulate them.