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The uniqueness of this book is its conceptualization of a corporate group as a system of interaction, comprised of nodes, links and internal governance tools. This framework can be used to understand what constitutes a group, based on affiliation-linkages. By increasing our perception of group-structuring we can assess the extent to which existing laws address all variables. If the law does not consider certain variables to be used for identifying groups, a case of shadow business may be identified. Group-transparency is a recurring topic on the regulatory agenda. In this book, three legal domains are analysed questioning whether specific amendments have led to increased group-transparency: the control-definition for consolidated accounts, shareholder-transparency in company law, and major holding disclosure in listed companies. This book identifies deficiencies of the law in obtaining its regulatory objective of group-transparency, and proposes an interpretative solution based on Systems Thinking.
List of contents
Part I. Setting the Scene: 1. Corporate group transparency; Part II. The Emergence of Group Complexity: 2. What causes group complexity; 3. The emergence of corporate groups; Part III. Decomposing Corporate Groups: 4. Organizational decoupling; 5. Control decoupling; 6. Governance decoupling; Part IV. Deficiencies in Formal Approaches to Group Transparency in EU Law: 7. The partly transparent corporate group under accounting law principles of consolidated accounts; 8. The contribution of company law to group transparency; 9. Uncovering decoupling techniques; 10. Intermediate results; Part V. A Systems Approach as a More Comprehensive Concept toward Group Transparency: 11. A primer to systems thinking; 12. Systems thinking as a foundation for group transparency; 13. A critical review of a systems approach; 14. Intermediate result; Part VI. Results: 15. Bringing it all together.
About the author
Linn Anker-Sørensen is Senior Manager, Nordic Head of Decentralized Finance, EY Norway and Lecturer in Law at the University of Oslo and Guest Lecturer at the University of Luxembourg. She is also a member of the European Securities and Market Authority's (ESMA) Financial Innovation Standing Committee.
