Corporate governance: G-20/OECD may be off-track

DO SHAREHOLDERS really deserve all the effort being devoted to improving corporate governance in advanced and emerging economies? The Group of 20 and the OECD believe so, even though skittish equity investors are seen by some now as the root of much evil.

Updated G-20/OECD Principles of Corporate Governance were endorsed during the G-20 finance minister and central bank governor meeting earlier this month in Ankara, and they amount to a very comprehensive charter of shareholder rights.

They run to many thousands of words and chronicle in great detail what the authors say are the "essential components of an effective corporate governance framework" that aims at protecting the rights of shareholders and other corporate stakeholders.