Shareholders and investors > Corporate Governance

Corporate Governance

Corporate governance consists of the series of mechanisms through which decisions are taken and companies are controlled.

Corporate Governance

Transparent corporate governance that respects the recommendations of the Unified Code of Good Governance is key to winning the trust of our domestic and international investors, as well as that of the financial markets.

This is why our objective is to guarantee the transparency, independence and good governance of the company in managing its holdings and, at the same time, safeguarding the interests of all our shareholders.

At Criteria CaixaCorp, management and control of the company are shared between the Annual General Meeting, the Board of Directors, the Board Committees and other management bodies.

Unified Code of Corporate Good Governance

Article 16 of the Spanish Securities Market Act (Ley del Mercado de Valores), loyal to the internationally recognised principle of “comply or explain”, requires listed Spanish companies to explain "the extent to which the recommendations on corporate governance have been followed or, when appropriate, an explanation for why such recommendations have not been followed".

The Unified Code of Corporate Good Governance, passed in May 2006, lays out the recommendations that listed companies should consider in order to comply with the obligation to provide information imposed by this precept.

In this respect, Spanish legislation affords companies absolute discretion in whether or not to follow the recommendations, but requires them, when they choose not to follow them, to provide reasons for their behaviour so that shareholders, investors and markets in general are able to judge them on their merits.

In concordance with the voluntary nature of this principle, the recommendations of the Unified Code of Good Governance do not include applicable legal precepts. The Code therefore omits any recommendations which, while they may be required in other countries or included in European Commission recommendations, are not necessary in Spain as they have been incorporated into our legal system.