The Undermining of UK Corporate Governance(?)

Over the past dozen years numerous overseas based businesses with dominant shareholders have become quoted on the London Stock Exchange, prominent examples of which have joined the 'blue chip' FTSE 100 stock market index. While this trend has generated concerns about the 'undermining' of UK corporate governance and has fostered reform proposals by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) it has thus far escaped academic attention. This article explains why companies with dominant shareholders have been migrating to London and discusses the policy implications. In so doing it shows that the FSA's proposals mostly cover familiar ground rather than being innovative but maintains that the case for radical reform has in fact not yet been made out.