The Financial Crisis: A Reason to Improve Shareholder Protection in the EU?

Mukwiri, Jonathan; Siems, Mathias

doi:10.1111/j.1467-6478.2014.00656.x

The Financial Crisis: A Reason to Improve Shareholder Protection in the EU?

Mukwiri, Jonathan; Siems, Mathias

Authors

Dr Jonathan Mukwiri jonathan.mukwiri@durham.ac.uk
Associate Professor

Mathias Siems

Abstract

The global financial crisis of 2008 has stimulated the debate on corporate governance and shareholder protection. The intuitive reason for the topicality of shareholder protection is that insolvencies mainly harm shareholders as the companies' residual claimants. In addition, ideally, shareholder empowerment may ensure better monitoring of management and therefore better-run companies preventing corporate failures and benefiting the economy as a whole. Yet, it is not self-evident that shareholder participation has such a positive effect. This article critically examines the discussion about the relationship between the financial crisis, shareholder protection, and law reform. We also develop a central position: while there may be a need to improve shareholder protection, we do not take the view that any increase in shareholder rights is the right way forward; rather, such reforms should aim to encourage shareholder engagement by responsible long-term investors.

Citation

Mukwiri, J., & Siems, M. (2014). The Financial Crisis: A Reason to Improve Shareholder Protection in the EU?. Journal of Law and Society, 41(1), 51-72. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6478.2014.00656.x

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Nov 5, 2013
Online Publication Date	Feb 18, 2014
Publication Date	Mar 1, 2014
Deposit Date	Oct 29, 2012
Publicly Available Date	Jan 20, 2015
Journal	Journal of Law and Society
Print ISSN	0263-323X
Electronic ISSN	1467-6478
Publisher	Wiley
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	41
Issue	1
Pages	51-72
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6478.2014.00656.x

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Copyright Statement
This is the accepted version of the following article: Mukwiri, Jonathan and Siems, Mathias (2014) 'The financial crisis : a reason to improve shareholder protection in the EU?', Journal of law and society., 41 (1). pp. 51-72, which has been published in final form at http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6478.2014.00656.x. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance With Wiley Terms and Conditions for self-archiving.