Church investors ready to dissent at BP AGM

Governance | Gareth Jones | 11 Apr 2011

Members of the Church Investors Group (CIG) will attend BP’s annual general meeting this week to express their ongoing concerns about the oil giant’s safety and risk management procedures.

The Group’s members, working in collaboration with US-based organisation Christian Brothers Investment Services, remain unhappy with BP efforts to address operational and strategic risks.

One such is Bill Seddon, vice-chair of CIG and CEO of the Central Finance Board of the Methodist Church. Speaking about the AGM, he said: “We will be joining other CIG members in voting against the re-election of the chair of the board’s safety committee and the company’s remuneration report. Concerns also remain about BP’s disclosure.”

Religious organisations are also gearing up for investor meetings with BP’s executive vice-president of safety and operational risk Mark Bly, which are taking place in London and New York next month.

Dominique Biedermann, managing director of Swiss organisation the Ethos Foundation and part of a cross-national group of church investors who considered but stopped short of filing a shareholder resolution earlier this year, said investors have now undertaken a gap analysis of BP’s recent disclosures.

“Based on this, Ethos cannot approve the annual report and accounts, the remuneration report and three members of the board’s safety committee.

“The investor meetings with Mark Bly provide an ideal place for BP to close that gap.”

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