Foreign investment will follow higher standards, says stock exchange boss

THE head of the Irish Stock Exchange (ISE) has warned that future international investment in Irish publicly-quoted companies depends on better corporate governance standards and global standards and expectations.

Addressing the ISE conference on corporate governance at Dublin’s Four Seasons Hotel yesterday, the exchange’s chief executive Deirdre Somers said: “Companies must consider whether their historical practices, although accepted in the past, will meet market expectations in the future.”

Investors must “demand better standards and require better disclosure and then differentiate and penalise those companies that don’t provide them”.