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The World Economic Forum

By Jonathan Armstrong
May 09, 2005

The hills were alive with the sound of Sarbanes-Oxley in January when the Swiss mountain resort of Davos hosted the World Economic Forum. Representatives of some of Europe's largest companies discussed the impact of the U.S. legislation on their operations, asking whether the impact of the additional regulation was worth the prestige of a New York listing or the opportunity to raise money on the world's largest capital market. It was reported that up to 60 European companies were ready to drop their U.S. listings.

View from the SEC

The debate followed a visit to London a couple of days earlier by William Donaldson, Chairman of the SEC. Donaldson started his speech by looking at the long list of U.S. corporate governance scandals — including Enron, WorldCom, Adelphia, Health South, Tyco and Global Crossing. He then emphasized the fact that similar issues had been faced in Europe with problems in companies like Parmalat, Vivendi, Hollinger, Ahold (although principally in its U.S. business) and Royal Dutch Shell.

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