Myners plans votes sale

Treasury Minister Lord Myners has suggested that investors should be able to buy and sell their voting rights in companies.

Myners, who was at the heart of the row surrounding the payout for former Royal Bank of Scotland chief executive Sir Fred Goodwin, said the Government must examine every avenue in its bid to make shareholders engage fully with companies.

"Some shareholders who never vote could sell their voting rights to others who do want to vote," he told Financial News.

"That would introduce some market discipline into voting. It would have to be limited, voting could not go beyond two votes per share, say. It is quite complicated, but it's got merit."

Myners called on Sir David Walker, who is leading the Government's inquiry into corporate governance at banks, to look as widely as possible at new ideas.

He said: "David Walker should explore every possibility and reject the ones that are outliers."

Myners added: "I am always trying to find ways of doing things betterIf we are not brave enough to come forward with new ideas that push the limits, there is a danger that we won't progress."

Immediate reaction to Myners' suggestion was very cautious. Alan Grisay, chief executive of F&C Asset Management, said: "This could potentially open the floodgates to all sorts of trouble.

"This sort of practice is no longer tolerated in the public life of any modern democracy and I suspect most people would be deeply uncomfortable with it being introduced to the business world."