Academic literature on the topic 'Board of director's pay'

AbstractThe company does not only aim to seek profit but also to maximize its value, which is reflected in the company’s share price. Good corporate governance is a system that regulates the relationship between managers, creditors, and employees by considering their rights and obligations to create added value for the company. This study aims to examine the effect of good corporate governance on firm value. The research was conducted on companies listed on LQ45 on the Indonesian Stock Exchange from 2017 to 2021. The sample was determined by purposive sampling with a sample size of 45. In this study, the independent variables were board independence, institutional ownership, and audit committee, while the dependent variable was firm value. The researchers used multiple linear regression analysis with EViews as a calculation tool to get good results. The EViews 10 testing tool was utilized, which includes descriptive statistics and a t-test. The findings of this study show that board independence has no impact on business value, and institutional ownership has no impact on firm value. Other studies have found that the audit committee has a considerable impact on the firm’s worth. To enhance good governance and consider investing in the firm, corporations are encouraged to pay more attention to board independence, institutional ownership, and audit committees.

AbstractIn The Entrepreneurial State and Mission Economy, Mazzucato argues that the state should adopt a proactive and entrepreneurial approach, setting ambitious missions that inspire collective action nurtured by emotions of urgency. By defining clear goals, the state can mobilize resources and talent from both the public and private sectors. We do not challenge Mazzucato’s facts or discredit her analysis. We agree that states successfully have and perhaps should continue to play a role in mobilizing talent and other resources around urgent societal challenges. Healthcare, climate change, and inequality are not problems that “markets” will solve on their own, and relevant and competent government organizations are an essential tool in our toolbox to address them. We would even agree that the state would do well to formulate clear missions and approach them in an entrepreneurial fashion. That is, experiment with an open mind and be willing to fail and learn, rather than develop interventions on the drawing board and then stick to them because of bureaucratic or political lock-in. But all that effort will only pay off, often in many unexpected ways, if we do not succumb to the fallacy of hindsight. That is, a well-defined and entrepreneurially executed state-led mission can only succeed in also generating a stream of valuable but largely unanticipated spin-off innovations, if the conditions for acting on such opportunities are right.

This chapter addresses how corporate governance supports shareholder-director conflicts and company success. Islamic financial institution (IFI) governance and performance have not been studied, yet corporate governance has affected previous financial crises. This examines IFI board size, ownership, CEO duality, and pay committee independent directors. Also studied is how Islamic corporate governance influences executive director pay. Thus, IFIs require an IWBCGF to handle current and future corporate governance issues. Qualitative corporate governance metrics research and qualitative Islamic principle evaluation helped exploratory studies attain these goals. The research shows that corporate governance strongly impacts IFI executive pay. These results show that executive directors require an Islamic-based comprehensive governance framework to navigate corporate governance issues. The study makes literary contributions. It tackles the lack of religious research on Islam and IFI corporate governance. It highlights IFIs' corporate governance and CEO remuneration.

Recently we are witnessing an increasing consensus among corporate leaders that any decision model for a successful business should link to the climate change. On the other hand, existing research works indicate that social networking affects the way companies make decisions in relation to their performance. This paper explores the effects of social networking characteristics among companies and the characteristics of board of directors on environmental governance. Our paper looks at the extent by adopting data mining techniques that comprehensively discover the effects for a sample of SP1500 companies in year 2010. Our analysis shows that this relationship indeed exists. More specifically, we show that companies that are highly inter-connected tend to have formal structures for environmental governance, such as: pay as well as non-monetary incentives related to climate change, environment-responsible committees, voluntary climate change communications, and publishing of climate change reports. In addition, companies who are highly connected tend to have larger boards of directors comprising of more independent directors. The positive outcome of this evaluation clearly demonstrates the direct and indirect power of information flow provided by social network characteristics on environmental governance.

In the last twenty years, sustainability became a strong move­ment leading to regulatory initiatives around the world. In this study, the Eu­ropean regulation is compared with common sustainability reporting prac­tices in the Real Estate Sector in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. The goal of the study is to show what type of information related to employees, and other social and governance issues are being provided and by how many firms in the year 2020. The findings show that more than half of the analyz­ed firms report the total number of employees, the share of women and the number of permanent full-time contracts. Furthermore, supervisory board members are listed by 37 out of 53 companies. More than a third of the 53 companies confirmed to have anti-corruption processes implemented and 25 firms state to have UN SDGs included in their reports. However, details on diversity and employee-related information are often, more than 50% of the time, missing (e.g. salary ratio of woman to man, average sick days/year, total number of trainees, executive pay ratio, total accidents, average age, proportion of female executives, % of woman on the board of directors, staff turnover rate, newly hired employees, employee-satisfaction, full-time em­ployees and part-time employees). Moreover, the involvement of firms, cus­tomers, suppliers and employees in following human rights guidelines, ESG and Code of Conduct rules is low. Less than a third of companies stated to follow the human rights guidelines obtained a sustainability certificate or employee well-being certificate and provided ESG-specific employee train­ing. Performing Code of Conduct training for employees, customer surveys, and implementing business partner Code of Conduct/Supplier Code of Con­duct besides mentioning the cases of corruption and incidents of discrimi­nation are reported by less than one-third of firms. These results are impor­tant for individuals, companies and politicians implementing new rules re­lated to sustainability reporting in Europe.

Corporate governance is a crucial mechanism for the organizations’ actions to maintain market successful adequate and targeted policies and long-term strategies that ensure the maximization of shareholders’ benefits. The board of directors is appointed by organizations’ shareholders and its main role is to be responsible and accountable and to ensure enforcement of the top management acts concerning the fulfillment of the shareholder’s interests. For this to be achieved, it is important for the board to be efficient, effective, and focused on protecting the organization and shareholder’s interests. Good corporate governance and more specifically, board characteristics play a central role in companies’ management, coordination, and control mechanisms. The paper analyses various theoretical and empirical findings regarding the prominence of various board characteristics within companies and particularly evaluates the impact of board characteristics on the financial performance of listed companies in the insurance industry in the Republic of North Macedonia. The financial ratio ROA is used as a proxy and as a variable for firm performance while the board experience, CEO duality, board size, board composition, and gender diversity are set to be as independent variables. Based on the variables related to board characteristics, hypotheses are developed and their impact upon firm performance is examined with the use of Generalized Methods of Moments (GMM), a pairwise correlation matrix, as well as with multicollinearity VIF test. In that direction, this paper aims to determine the level of effectiveness of current governance mechanisms and based on the results, propose measures and actions for successfully handling agency costs while maximizing governance capability and performance in the insurance sector in the Republic of North Macedonia.

The purpose of the study is to investigate whether companies that act ethically benefit in terms of reducing credit risk and if the board of directors (BoD) characteristics play a moderator role in the relationship between the presence of the legality rating and the credit risk. The study sample consists of 285 Italian companies between 2012 and 2022. The information related to the legality rating (LR) was taken from the Authority Guarantor of Competition and the Market (AGCM) and the other information associated with the companies was from the AIDA database by Bureau Van Dijk. The results of the study show a positive and statistically significant relationship between the LR and the EM-Score and a positive association between women on the BoD and the EM-Score. Moreover, the research reveals that the presence of women on the BoD amplifies the relationship between LR and credit risk.

The Business Model (BM) has become a distinctive feature that guides enterprises in fighting against challenges and navigating toward success. Construction organisations also face challenges due to expanding project scopes, increasing project participants, external factors and tight budgets. Hence, innovating BMs to keep up with the changing market and retain the competitive edge is essential. In this context, the stakeholders play a vital role in Business Model Innovation (BMI). There is therefore a need to investigate the role of stakeholder in BMI. Hence, this paper investigates the role of stakeholders in BMI in Sri Lankan construction organisations. This research gap was addressed using a literature review followed by in-depth semi-structured interviews with 20 experts using the qualitative research approach. Collected data were analysed through content analysis. Findings revealed that stakeholder engagement in BMI is led by the mutual benefits gained by all parties while creating a win-win situation. Semi-structured interview findings revealed that government, shareholders, clients, Board of Directors (BoDs) and management significantly influence BMI, while stakeholders such as employees, sub-contractors, competitors, financial providers and material suppliers possess a moderate influence. As per the interview findings, shareholders provide capital and foster innovation, BoDs/top management make final decisions after evaluating all suggestions, middle and low-level managers execute BMIs and guide subordinates, clients shape BMs to fit project needs, and the government influences BMIs through regulations. In conclusion, the stakeholders in construction industry can use the research findings in developing BMIs and implementing them successfully.

In the Piedmont region (Italy) the electronic ticketing system called BIP, is currently active across much of its territory, and thedata collected in the Province of Cuneo since the full activation of the system (2014) provide today a sound source ofinformation. Two different travel documents are available, travel passes and pay-per-use, with different validation rules: check-inonly for travel passes and check-in and check-out for pay-per-use. Data produced by this electronic ticketing system employingsmart cards allow to perform a detailed analysis of each user’s behaviour, and calculate time and space distributions of eachpassenger trip. In detail, data originating from smart card transactions allow to trace back the trip chains, establish journey originsand destinations, and produce a “travel diary” for each passenger. Based on this data, performance indicators (i.e. load factor) aswell as user mobility patterns and origin-destination matrices can be calculated in an automated and reliable way. This articlepresents a methodology for assessing the quality of the data collected when information about boarding and alighting stops isavailable from the (on board) validation system. It also presents an algorithm to assign a destination for each trip where only theboarding information is available. In the case study of the Province of Cuneo, it was found that 91% of the pay-per-use journeydata are reliable and can be used for further analysis, whereas with the use of the proposed algorithm it was possible to estimatethe destinations for 82% of the travel pass trips.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4995/CIT2016.2016.1999

Railway transport represents one of the main transportation kind of transport of these days to transfer both passengers and goods. Every day people commute to work and back home using railway transport in a form of subway systems, light rail transits and other types of rail transport. These types of railway transport can create noise both to the passengers inside of the train as well as to the environment [1, 2]. If the pay is attended to noise when a human is on a board of a train, there are more than one noise source that one can hear. The main sources for interior noise in a rail vehicle are turbulent boundary layer, air conditioning noise, engine (or powertrain), auxiliary equipment, rolling noise and aerodynamic noise from bogie [1, 2]

This paper aims to clarify issues regarding shared rail corridors from a public policy perspective. It presents an overview of the relationships between the main stakeholders operating trains on North America’s rail networks: the railway companies that own the rail infrastructure and use it to provide freight services to shippers, and the passenger service operators—which are primarily public agencies that pay railway companies for track access and other services required to operate commuter and intercity passenger trains. The issues at stake are of concern to the policy and business community alike, because congestion on railway lines affects commuter rail, intercity passenger trains, and long-distance freight trains. In addition to the obvious economic costs of delays or less-reliable transit times in passenger and freight rail, respectively, adverse environmental and social impacts (e.g., higher accident rates on roadways) arise if either freight or passenger traffic shifts from rail to roadways. An earlier version of this paper was published by the Conference Board of Canada in September 2010.

<div class="section abstract"><div class="htmlview paragraph">Effective smart cockpit interaction design can address the specific needs of children, offering ample entertainment and educational resources to enhance their on-board experience. Currently, substantial attention is focused on smart cockpit design to enrich the overall travel engagement for children. Recognizing the contrasts between children and adults in areas such as physical health, cognitive development, and emotional psychology, it becomes imperative to meticulously customize the design and optimization processes to cater explicitly to their individual requirements. However, a noticeable gap persists in both research methodologies and product offerings within this domain. This study employs user survey to delve into children’s on-board experiences and utilization of current child-centric in-cockpit interaction solutions (C-SI Solutions), that over 50% of the interviewees (children) got on-board at least several times per week and over half of the parents would pay for C-SI Solutions, but less than 8% of the interviewees reported actual usage. By employing an interdisciplinary approach that harmonizes Design Thinking and Developmental Psychology, this research reveals that the traditional cockpit is actually a liminal space for children, and introduces the ICE Model (Evaluation Model for In-Cockpit Child-Centric Interaction Solutions) for providing insights into C-SI solution design. This model is consisted of two modules: IPO-Based Structured Module and I&C (Intelligence & Consciousness) Evaluation Module. IPO-Based Structured Module is based on the IPO (Input-Process-Output) Model and for interpreting C-SI Solution’s structure, so that to realize the paradigm shift in Design Thinking. I&C Evaluation Module, the second one, is for analyzing C-SI Solution’s psychological developmental function. The ICE model is then applied to conduct market research, aiming to identify challenges and shortcomings with current C-SI Solutions. Subsequently, this research offers recommendations and possibilities for the improvement of designing C-SI Solutions, that it requires not only seamless cooperation between designers and engineers, but also interdisciplinary collaboration.</div></div>

Civil society organizations (CSOs) like yours often work with limited funds, time, and resources. There’s also a misperception that testing is expensive. We’d like to show you that this isn’t always the case. This guide presents some simple ways to test your messaging and campaigns to identify how to best achieve your desired results – all while preserving your resources. This guidebook is meant for advocacy, communications, research and programs teams. These can be officers, managers and directors working with nascent or even established CSOs, social enterprises and other non-profits. It is particularly useful to officers and teams that take up the roles of program and project implementation, communications, public affairs, research, stakeholder engagement and advocacy. These can be Communications Officers, Research teams, Communications Leads, Project Managers, Program Managers and Coordinators, Grant Managers, Advocacy Leads, Engagement Managers and Directors, Chiefs and Directors of Advocacy and other similar roles. Executive Directors and Board Members of these organizations also have a role to play as they are the custodians of the overall organizational strategy and vision. When communicating to an organization’s primary stakeholders and partners, this guidebook is a free resource that can be used to complement the communications and advocacy strategies. The guidebook therefore can be used as a tool when crafting advocacy messages and campaigns, when releasing project information on interventions, reporting implementation and communicating impact.

Banco de la República is celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2023. This is a very significant anniversary and one that provides an opportunity to highlight the contribution the Bank has made to the country’s development. Its track record as guarantor of monetary stability has established it as the one independent state institution that generates the greatest confidence among Colombians due to its transparency, management capabilities, and effective compliance with the central banking and cultural responsibilities entrusted to it by the Constitution and the Law. On a date as important as this, the Board of Directors of Banco de la República (BDBR) pays tribute to the generations of governors and officers whose commitment and dedication have contributed to the growth of this institution.1 Banco de la República’s mandate was confirmed in the National Constitutional Assembly of 1991 where the citizens had the opportunity to elect the seventy people who would have the task of drafting a new constitution. The leaders of the three political movements with the most votes were elected as chairs to the Assembly, and this tripartite presidency reflected the plurality and the need for consensus among the different political groups to move the reform forward. Among the issues considered, the National Constitutional Assembly gave special importance to monetary stability. That is why they decided to include central banking and to provide Banco de la República with the necessary autonomy to use the instruments for which they are responsible without interference from other authorities. The constituent members understood that ensuring price stability is a state duty and that the entity responsible for this task must be enshrined in the Constitution and have the technical capability and institutional autonomy necessary to adopt the decisions they deem appropriate to achieve this fundamental objective in coordination with the general economic policy. In particular, Article 373 established that “the State, through Banco de la República, shall ensure the maintenance of the purchasing power of the currency,” a provision that coincided with the central banking system adopted by countries that have been successful in controlling inflation. In 1999, in Ruling 481, the Constitutional Court stated that “the duty to maintain the purchasing power of the currency applies to not only the monetary, credit, and exchange authority, i.e., the Board of Banco de la República, but also those who have responsibilities in the formulation and implementation of the general economic policy of the country” and that “the basic constitutional purpose of Banco de la República is the protection of a sound currency. However, this authority must take the other economic objectives of state intervention such as full employment into consideration in their decisions since these functions must be coordinated with the general economic policy.” The reforms to Banco de la República agreed upon in the Constitutional Assembly of 1991 and in Act 31/1992 can be summarized in the following aspects: i) the Bank was assigned a specific mandate: to maintain the purchasing power of the currency in coordination with the general economic policy; ii) the BDBR was designatedas the monetary, foreign exchange, and credit authority; iii) the Bank and its Board of Directors were granted a significant degree of independence from the government; iv) the Bank was prohibited from granting credit to the private sector except in the case of the financial sector; v) established that in order to grant credit to the government, the unanimous vote of its Board of Directors was required except in the case of open market transactions; vi) determined that the legislature may, in no case, order credit quotas in favor of the State or individuals; vii) Congress was appointed, on behalf of society, as the main addressee of the Bank’s reporting exercise; and viii) the responsibility for inspection, surveillance, and control over Banco de la República was delegated to the President of the Republic. The members of the National Constitutional Assembly clearly understood that the benefits of low and stable inflation extend to the whole of society and contribute mto the smooth functioning of the economic system. Among the most important of these is that low inflation promotes the efficient use of productive resources by allowing relative prices to better guide the allocation of resources since this promotes economic growth and increases the welfare of the population. Likewise, low inflation reduces uncertainty about the expected return on investment and future asset prices. This increases the confidence of economic agents, facilitates long-term financing, and stimulates investment. Since the low-income population is unable to protect itself from inflation by diversifying its assets, and a high proportion of its income is concentrated in the purchase of food and other basic goods that are generally the most affected by inflationary shocks, low inflation avoids arbitrary redistribution of income and wealth.2 Moreover, low inflation facilitates wage negotiations, creates a good labor climate, and reduces the volatility of employment levels. Finally, low inflation helps to make the tax system more transparent and equitable by avoiding the distortions that inflation introduces into the value of assets and income that make up the tax base. From the monetary authority’s point of view, one of the most relevant benefits of low inflation is the credibility that economic agents acquire in inflation targeting, which turns it into an effective nominal anchor on price levels. Upon receiving its mandate, and using its autonomy, Banco de la República began to announce specific annual inflation targets as of 1992. Although the proposed inflation targets were not met precisely during this first stage, a downward trend in inflation was achieved that took it from 32.4% in 1990 to 16.7% in 1998. At that time, the exchange rate was kept within a band. This limited the effectiveness of monetary policy, which simultaneously sought to meet an inflation target and an exchange rate target. The Asian crisis spread to emerging economies and significantly affected the Colombian economy. The exchange rate came under strong pressure to depreciate as access to foreign financing was cut off under conditions of a high foreign imbalance. This, together with the lack of exchange rate flexibility, prevented a countercyclical monetary policy and led to a 4.2% contraction in GDP that year. In this context of economic slowdown, annual inflation fell to 9.2% at the end of 1999, thus falling below the 15% target set for that year. This episode fully revealed how costly it could be, in terms of economic activity, to have inflation and exchange rate targets simultaneously. Towards the end of 1999, Banco de la República announced the adoption of a new monetary policy regime called the Inflation Targeting Plan. This regime, known internationally as ‘Inflation Targeting,’ has been gaining increasing acceptance in developed countries, having been adopted in 1991 by New Zealand, Canada, and England, among others, and has achieved significant advances in the management of inflation without incurring costs in terms of economic activity. In Latin America, Brazil and Chile also adopted it in 1999. In the case of Colombia, the last remaining requirement to be fulfilled in order to adopt said policy was exchange rate flexibility. This was realized around September 1999, when the BDBR decided to abandon the exchange-rate bands to allow the exchange rate to be freely determined in the market.Consistent with the constitutional mandate, the fundamental objective of this new policy approach was “the achievement of an inflation target that contributes to maintaining output growth around its potential.”3 This potential capacity was understood as the GDP growth that the economy can obtain if it fully utilizes its productive resources. To meet this objective, monetary policy must of necessity play a countercyclical role in the economy. This is because when economic activity is below its potential and there are idle resources, the monetary authority can reduce the interest rate in the absence of inflationary pressure to stimulate the economy and, when output exceeds its potential capacity, raise it. This policy principle, which is immersed in the models for guiding the monetary policy stance, makes the following two objectives fully compatible in the medium term: meeting the inflation target and achieving a level of economic activity that is consistent with its productive capacity. To achieve this purpose, the inflation targeting system uses the money market interest rate (at which the central bank supplies primary liquidity to commercial banks) as the primary policy instrument. This replaced the quantity of money as an intermediate monetary policy target that Banco de la República, like several other central banks, had used for a long time. In the case of Colombia, the objective of the new monetary policy approach implied, in practical terms, that the recovery of the economy after the 1999 contraction should be achieved while complying with the decreasing inflation targets established by the BDBR. The accomplishment of this purpose was remarkable. In the first half of the first decade of the 2000s, economic activity recovered significantly and reached a growth rate of 6.8% in 2006. Meanwhile, inflation gradually declined in line with inflation targets. That was how the inflation rate went from 9.2% in 1999 to 4.5% in 2006, thus meeting the inflation target established for that year while GDP reached its potential level. After this balance was achieved in 2006, inflation rebounded to 5.7% in 2007, above the 4.0% target for that year due to the fact that the 7.5% GDP growth exceeded the potential capacity of the economy.4 After proving the effectiveness of the inflation targeting system in its first years of operation, this policy regime continued to consolidate as the BDBR and the technical staff gained experience in its management and state-of-the-art economic models were incorporated to diagnose the present and future state of the economy and to assess the persistence of inflation deviations and expectations with respect to the inflation target. Beginning in 2010, the BDBR established the long-term 3.0% annual inflation target, which remains in effect today. Lower inflation has contributed to making the macroeconomic environment more stable, and this has favored sustained economic growth, financial stability, capital market development, and the functioning of payment systems. As a result, reductions in the inflationary risk premia and lower TES and credit interest rates were achieved. At the same time, the duration of public domestic debt increased significantly going from 2.27 years in December 2002 to 5.86 years in December 2022, and financial deepening, measured as the level of the portfolio as a percentage of GDP, went from around 20% in the mid-1990s to values above 45% in recent years in a healthy context for credit institutions.Having been granted autonomy by the Constitution to fulfill the mandate of preserving the purchasing power of the currency, the tangible achievements made by Banco de la República in managing inflation together with the significant benefits derived from the process of bringing inflation to its long-term target, make the BDBR’s current challenge to return inflation to the 3.0% target even more demanding and pressing. As is well known, starting in 2021, and especially in 2022, inflation in Colombia once again became a serious economic problem with high welfare costs. The inflationary phenomenon has not been exclusive to Colombia and many other developed and emerging countries have seen their inflation rates move away from the targets proposed by their central banks.5 The reasons for this phenomenon have been analyzed in recent Reports to Congress, and this new edition delves deeper into the subject with updated information. The solid institutional and technical base that supports the inflation targeting approach under which the monetary policy strategy operates gives the BDBR the necessary elements to face this difficult challenge with confidence. In this regard, the BDBR reiterated its commitment to the 3.0% inflation target in its November 25 communiqué and expects it to be reached by the end of 2024.6 Monetary policy will continue to focus on meeting this objective while ensuring the sustainability of economic activity, as mandated by the Constitution. Analyst surveys done in March showed a significant increase (from 32.3% in January to 48.5% in March) in the percentage of responses placing inflation expectations two years or more ahead in a range between 3.0% and 4.0%. This is a clear indication of the recovery of credibility in the medium-term inflation target and is consistent with the BDBR’s announcement made in November 2022. The moderation of the upward trend in inflation seen in January, and especially in February, will help to reinforce this revision of inflation expectations and will help to meet the proposed targets. After reaching 5.6% at the end of 2021, inflation maintained an upward trend throughout 2022 due to inflationary pressures from both external sources, associated with the aftermath of the pandemic and the consequences of the war in Ukraine, and domestic sources, resulting from: strengthening of local demand; price indexation processes stimulated by the increase in inflation expectations; the impact on food production caused by the mid-2021 strike; and the pass-through of depreciation to prices. The 10% increase in the minimum wage in 2021 and the 16% increase in 2022, both of which exceeded the actual inflation and the increase in productivity, accentuated the indexation processes by establishing a high nominal adjustment benchmark. Thus, total inflation went to 13.1% by the end of 2022. The annual change in food prices, which went from 17.2% to 27.8% between those two years, was the most influential factor in the surge in the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Another segment that contributed significantly to price increases was regulated products, which saw the annual change go from 7.1% in December 2021 to 11.8% by the end of 2022. The measure of core inflation excluding food and regulated items, in turn, went from 2.5% to 9.5% between the end of 2021 and the end of 2022. The substantial increase in core inflation shows that inflationary pressure has spread to most of the items in the household basket, which is characteristic of inflationary processes with generalized price indexation as is the case in Colombia. Monetary policy began to react early to this inflationary pressure. Thus, starting with its September 2021 session, the BDBR began a progressive change in the monetary policy stance moving away from the historical low of a 1.75% policy rate that had intended to stimulate the recovery of the economy. This adjustment process continued without interruption throughout 2022 and into the beginning of 2023 when the monetary policy rate reached 12.75% last January, thus accumulating an increase of 11 percentage points (pp). The public and the markets have been surprised that inflation continued to rise despite significant interest rate increases. However, as the BDBR has explained in its various communiqués, monetary policy works with a lag. Just as in 2022 economic activity recovered to a level above the pre-pandemic level, driven, along with other factors, by the monetary stimulus granted during the pandemic period and subsequent months, so too the effects of the current restrictive monetary policy will gradually take effect. This will allow us to expect the inflation rate to converge to 3.0% by the end of 2024 as is the BDBR’s purpose.Inflation results for January and February of this year showed declining marginal increases (13 bp and 3 bp respectively) compared to the change seen in December (59 bp). This suggests that a turning point in the inflation trend is approaching. In other Latin American countries such as Chile, Brazil, Perú, and Mexico, inflation has peaked and has begun to decline slowly, albeit with some ups and downs. It is to be expected that a similar process will take place in Colombia in the coming months. The expected decline in inflation in 2023 will be due, along with other factors, to lower cost pressure from abroad as a result of the gradual normalization of supply chains, the overcoming of supply shocks caused by the weather, and road blockades in previous years. This will be reflected in lower adjustments in food prices, as has already been seen in the first two months of the year and, of course, the lagged effect of monetary policy. The process of inflation convergence to the target will be gradual and will extend beyond 2023. This process will be facilitated if devaluation pressure is reversed. To this end, it is essential to continue consolidating fiscal sustainability and avoid messages on different public policy fronts that generate uncertainty and distrust. 1 This Report to Congress includes Box 1, which summarizes the trajectory of Banco de la República over the past 100 years. In addition, under the Bank’s auspices, several books that delve into various aspects of the history of this institution have been published in recent years. See, for example: Historia del Banco de la República 1923-2015; Tres banqueros centrales; Junta Directiva del Banco de la República: grandes episodios en 30 años de historia; Banco de la República: 90 años de la banca central en Colombia. 2 This is why lower inflation has been reflected in a reduction of income inequality as measured by the Gini coefficient that went from 58.7 in 1998 to 51.3 in the year prior to the pandemic. 3 See Gómez Javier, Uribe José Darío, Vargas Hernando (2002). “The Implementation of Inflation Targeting in Colombia”. Borradores de Economía, No. 202, March, available at: https://repositorio.banrep.gov.co/handle/20.500.12134/5220 4 See López-Enciso Enrique A.; Vargas-Herrera Hernando and Rodríguez-Niño Norberto (2016). “The inflation targeting strategy in Colombia. An historical view.” Borradores de Economía, No. 952. https://repositorio.banrep.gov.co/handle/20.500.12134/6263 5 According to the IMF, the percentage change in consumer prices between 2021 and 2022 went from 3.1% to 7.3% for advanced economies, and from 5.9% to 9.9% for emerging market and developing economies. 6 https://www.banrep.gov.co/es/noticias/junta-directiva-banco-republica-reitera-meta-inflacion-3

This self evaluation has been prepared by the Office of Evaluation and Oversight (OVE) in response to a request from Executive Directors to support the work of the Independent Review Panel (IRP), which has been tasked with undertaking an external, independent review of the evaluation function at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). Over the 10 years of its existence, OVE has produced a substantial volume of evaluation work, including 47 country program evaluations, 98 other documents in the "RE" series that are sent to the Board for consideration, 27 evaluation reports for the MIF, IIC and Japan Special Fund, and 65 technical reports and working papers. OVE has established formal procedures for the quality control of its evaluations, relying on both internal and external peer reviews of documents sent to the Board. The quality of data available varies across the range of evaluation studies, and some are able to mobilize better empirical information than others. Comments on the quality of OVE documents recorded in the minutes of Board discussions are overwhelmingly favorable. Across a broad range of issues, OVE has issued reports that challenge the empirical basis of prevailing claims regarding the relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, impact, and sustainability of Bank interventions in the region. These challenges have sometimes provoked controversy, but on the whole, it is OVE's view that these controversies have been helpful to the institution in deepening thought and opening up new possibilities. In thinking about the future of the evaluation function at the IDB, this self evaluation highlights the role that an independent, empirically focused, challenging OVE can play in opening up possibilities for institutional change and improvement. While there are clear opportunities for improvement in the work of the Office, (including improved outreach, more explicit and actionable recommendations, explicit and measurable quality standards for evaluation work) it's essential institutional role of challenging complacency deserves to be preserved.

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) was founded in 1959 as an initiative of Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries and the United States to support the development of the region through an institution in which LAC countries would play a leading role through their majority capital and voting shares but with significant participation of the United States. The Agreement Establishing the Inter-American Development Bank (the Agreement; IDB 1959/1996) articulated the desired balance of responsibilities and power between LAC and the United States. It also provided that the IDB's governance would center around three governing bodies: the Board of Governors (BOG), the Board of Executive Directors (EXD), and Senior Management. The objective of this evaluation, requested by the EXD, was to assess the extent to which existing institutional arrangements at the IDB allow it to operate effectively and efficiently while providing sufficient accountability, transparency, and stakeholder voice in decision making. The evaluation focused on four dimensions: (1) effectiveness--the extent to which the IDB's governance arrangements allow the institution to effectively set strategic objectives, provide means to attain those objectives, and monitor performance; (2) efficiency--the degree to which the costs (in both money and time) of the IDB's governing bodies to perform their assigned roles and responsibilities are consistent with their priorities; (3) accountability and transparency--the extent to which the IDB's governance arrangements render the IDB governing bodies accountable to its shareholders for the responsibilities delegated to them, and the ability of secondary stakeholders, such as civil society, project beneficiaries, and private sector entities, to access information; and (4) voice--the extent to which the IDB's governance arrangements provide the shareholders and secondary stakeholders with an adequate voice in decision making.

Corporations are under increasing pressure to align with SDG 5 (Gender Equality), ensuring equal opportunities for women and men in leadership, pay, and career growth. While studies on gender equality are growing, limited research explores the evolutionary paths leading to gender parity. This paper employs Time-Series fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (TS/fsQCA) to examine the distinct and evolving paths that lead to gender parity within Swiss companies between 2020 and 2023. By analysing configurations of variables, including board independence, changes in women’s representation in managerial positions, executive compensation tied to ESG goals, CSR evaluations, and alignment with SDGs reported in annual disclosures, the study identifies how these elements combine to advance gender parity. The analysis reveals multiple pathways to achieving gender parity, with distinct combinations of conditions driving progress over time. While earlier years highlight the pivotal role of women in leadership positions, later years demonstrate increasing reliance on integrated strategies incorporating ESG-linked practices and SDG alignment. Furthermore, the study identifies the evolution of corporate approaches, showing that pathways have become more complex as firms adapt to changing regulatory and societal expectations. These findings contribute to understanding how corporate governance structures, strategic alignment with social goals, and evolving business practices support the advancement of gender parity in the corporate sector. By shedding light on temporal variations, the study offers actionable insights for policymakers and practitioners aiming to foster gender parity through sustainable corporate strategies.

Banco de la República provides a comprehensive overview of Colombia’s finan¬cial infrastructure in its Payment Systems Report, which is an important product of the work it does to oversee that infrastructure. The figures published in this edition of the report are for the year 2020, a pandemic period in which the con¬tainment measures designed and adopted to alleviate the strain on the health system led to a sharp reduction in economic activity and consumption in Colom¬bia, as was the case in most countries. At the start of the pandemic, the Board of Directors of Banco de la República adopted decisions that were necessary to supply the market with ample liquid¬ity in pesos and US dollars to guarantee market stability, protect the payment system and preserve the supply of credit. The pronounced growth in mone¬tary aggregates reflected an increased preference for liquidity, which Banco de la República addressed at the right time. These decisions were implemented through operations that were cleared and settled via the financial infrastructure. The second section of this report, following the introduction, offers an analysis of how the various financial infrastructures in Colombia have evolved and per¬formed. One of the highlights is the large-value payment system (CUD), which registered more momentum in 2020 than during the previous year, mainly be¬cause of an increase in average daily remunerated deposits made with Banco de la República by the General Directorate of Public Credit and the National Treasury (DGCPTN), as well as more activity in the sell/buy-back market with sovereign debt. Consequently, with more activity in the CUD, the Central Securi¬ties Depository (DCV) experienced an added impetus sparked by an increase in the money market for bonds and securities placed on the primary market by the national government. The value of operations cleared and settled through the Colombian Central Counterparty (CRCC) continues to grow, propelled largely by peso/dollar non-deliverable forward (NDF) contracts. With respect to the CRCC, it is important to note this clearing house has been in charge of managing risks and clearing and settling operations in the peso/dollar spot market since the end of last year, following its merger with the Foreign Exchange Clearing House of Colombia (CCDC). Since the final quarter of 2020, the CRCC has also been re¬sponsible for clearing and settlement in the equities market, which was former¬ly done by the Colombian Stock Exchange (BVC). The third section of this report provides an all-inclusive view of payments in the market for goods and services; namely, transactions carried out by members of the public and non-financial institutions. During the pandemic, inter- and intra-bank electronic funds transfers, which originate mostly with companies, increased in both the number and value of transactions with respect to 2019. However, debit and credit card payments, which are made largely by private citizens, declined compared to 2019. The incidence of payment by check contin¬ue to drop, exhibiting quite a pronounced downward trend during the past last year. To supplement to the information on electronic funds transfers, section three includes a segment (Box 4) characterizing the population with savings and checking accounts, based on data from a survey by Banco de la República con-cerning the perception of the use of payment instruments in 2019. There also is segment (Box 2) on the growth in transactions with a mobile wallet provided by a company specialized in electronic deposits and payments (Sedpe). It shows the number of users and the value of their transactions have increased since the wallet was introduced in late 2017, particularly during the pandemic. In addition, there is a diagnosis of the effects of the pandemic on the payment patterns of the population, based on data related to the use of cash in circu¬lation, payments with electronic instruments, and consumption and consumer confidence. The conclusion is that the collapse in the consumer confidence in¬dex and the drop in private consumption led to changes in the public’s pay¬ment patterns. Credit and debit card purchases were down, while payments for goods and services through electronic funds transfers increased. These findings, coupled with the considerable increase in cash in circulation, might indicate a possible precautionary cash hoarding by individuals and more use of cash as a payment instrument. There is also a segment (in Focus 3) on the major changes introduced in regulations on the retail-value payment system in Colombia, as provided for in Decree 1692 of December 2020. The fourth section of this report refers to the important innovations and tech¬nological changes that have occurred in the retail-value payment system. Four themes are highlighted in this respect. The first is a key point in building the financial infrastructure for instant payments. It involves of the design and im¬plementation of overlay schemes, a technological development that allows the various participants in the payment chain to communicate openly. The result is a high degree of interoperability among the different payment service providers. The second topic explores developments in the international debate on central bank digital currency (CBDC). The purpose is to understand how it could impact the retail-value payment system and the use of cash if it were to be issued. The third topic is related to new forms of payment initiation, such as QR codes, bio¬metrics or near field communication (NFC) technology. These seemingly small changes can have a major impact on the user’s experience with the retail-value payment system. The fourth theme is the growth in payments via mobile tele¬phone and the internet. The report ends in section five with a review of two papers on applied research done at Banco de la República in 2020. The first analyzes the extent of the CRCC’s capital, acknowledging the relevant role this infrastructure has acquired in pro¬viding clearing and settlement services for various financial markets in Colom¬bia. The capital requirements defined for central counterparties in some jurisdic¬tions are explored, and the risks to be hedged are identified from the standpoint of the service these type of institutions offer to the market and those associated with their corporate activity. The CRCC’s capital levels are analyzed in light of what has been observed in the European Union’s regulations, and the conclusion is that the CRCC has a scheme of security rings very similar to those applied internationally and the extent of its capital exceeds what is stipulated in Colombian regulations, being sufficient to hedge other risks. The second study presents an algorithm used to identify and quantify the liquidity sources that CUD’s participants use under normal conditions to meet their daily obligations in the local financial market. This algorithm can be used as a tool to monitor intraday liquidity. Leonardo Villar Gómez Governor