“The opportunities opening out in the international water sector are driving year’s Global Water Summit Paris to be the biggest yet,” commented Christopher Gasson, Publisher at Global Water Intelligence (GWI) the co-organiser of the conference. “With more than US$150bn of investments in desalination, water distribution, wastewater treatment under discussion and a full slate of industrial water users attending the event, registrations are 10% up on last year’s blockbuster event in Madrid.”

The summit will host a ‘blended finance’ workshop in partnership with the World Bank, aimed at developing structures that bring together public and private resources to deliver water infrastructure projects in emerging markets.

Forming part of the summit’s finance agenda strand, the blended finance session will bring together representatives of development finance institutions with top performing utility leaders and government officials from Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia, as they plan to use their access to low cost finance to mobilise private investment in infrastructure on an unprecedented scale. The session will explore how the water sector should proceed in developing structures that bring together public and private resources to deliver water infrastructure projects in emerging markets.

The Global Water Summit will also feature round tables hosted by officials and finance institution representatives, providing insights on private sector opportunities in several key regions with major infrastructure spending plans including the USA, Argentina, Morocco, Oman, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Iran, Nigeria, and India. Together these national spending plans represent $100 billion of water infrastructure investment.

The 2018 summit will be preceded by a pre-conference workshop on the privatisation of Saudi Arabia’s water sector, held on 15th April 2018 in partnership with The Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture (MEWA), the Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC), the National Water Company (NWC) and the Water and Electricity Company.

The officials from the four Saudi organisations will be hosting the workshop in a bid to outline the kingdom’s £60 billion investment opportunity, and to identify and attract top-performing potential partners for their investment plans at the earliest stage of the privatisation process.

Emerging opportunities for the desalination market will also form part of The Global Water Summit agenda, with over five million m3/d of new desalination capacity being presented in Paris.

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October 7, 2013 : Clawing back bonuses from directors could be made easier as the U.K’s accounting regulator has said it may overhaul rules for corporate pay and introduce measures to make it easier to seize executive bonuses. The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has published a consultation on possible amendments to the UK Corporate Governance Code on executive remuneration, the FRC led by chairman Baroness Hogg, has begun a consultation in the wake of new legislation, the Large and Medium Sized Companies and Groups (Accounts and Reports) Amendment Regulations 2013 which came into effect on October 1.

This comes after the FRC was asked by the government to consult on the code once its legislation on voting and reporting of executive pay remuneration has been finalised. On the “clawback” of executive payments the FRC said it will look at bonus clawback arrangements, executives sitting as non-executives on peer remuneration committees, and steps to take when pay is not agreed by majority vote. The current code is not clear on how boards should respond if they fail to obtain a substantial majority in support of a resolution on remuneration, despite general guidance that the chairman should ensure “effective communication with shareholders”. Regulators and government are contemplating for more than one year on ways to better align remuneration with company performance and hand more power to shareholders.

FRC Chairman Baroness Hogg said “The government’s new legislation underlines the importance of boards and investors engaging on director’s remuneration. The FRC is undertaking this consultation to understand if there is a case for changes to the code”.  “There is no presumption on the FRC’s part as to the outcome. All interested parties will have an opportunity to make their views known before we reach a final decision”

“Institutions have already taken a harder line on clawbacks in recent years, so any changes would be a catch-up with existing good practice” said Carol Shutkever, a lawyer at Herbert Smith LLP.

Industry groups can offer their views on the changes, the FRC said. If changes to the code are proposed there will be a further consultation early in the New Year, with the new rules coming into effect from October 1, 2014.

Lloyds directors face the heat

Earlier in February 2013, “The Telegraph” reported that directors of Lloyds Banking Group would face cut in their pay as a result of its spiralling payment protection insurance (PPI) mis-selling provisions. The Lloyds board chaired by Sir Win Bischoff, decided to reduce the bonuses of 13 former directors and senior managers for a second time, the decision would impact its stalwarts including ex-Chief Executive, Eric Daniels, Helen Weir, former Retail Banking Chief whose bonuses were cut by 25 percent. Lloyds Bank became the first British bank since the 2008 financial crisis to exercise a “clawback” option on its executives. The 2012 clawbacks were based on £ 3.2bn of PPI mis-selling provisions booked in 2011.

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