Sustainable governance and regulation of banks and public companies: A study of the concept “acting in concert”

Abstract

This Article explores the main convergences and divergences among the different notions of “persons acting in concert” adopted by certain EU and US regulations concerning financial institutions and public companies, for the purpose of identifying a common set of principles governing the interpretation and application of such legal concept. This analysis shows that while under the regulations on the ownership structure of banks and financial institutions the legal notion of “persons acting in concert” is widely applied and extensively interpreted – since the operation of such companies must be protected also from potential (and not only actual) risks – both the takeover bids’ and transparency rules mainly look at the actual exercise of governance rights over listed targets, for the purpose of expanding, respectively, the list of bidders and the information provided to the public on the ownership structure of such companies. As a consequence of the above, we conclude that the notion of “persons acting in concert” should remain flexible and adaptable to the different goals pursued in the various sets of rules as the case may be.