Montagnon appointed chairman of ICGN

The board of the International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN) has appointed Peter Montagnon as its chairman.

Montagnon, who is director of investment affairs at the Association of British Insurers (ABI), was elected to the post at the ICGN’s 12th annual conference in Cape Town, South Africa, earlier this month.

The ICGN works to improve corporate governance practice worldwide and has more than 500 members across 44 countries. Its work currently concerns the roles of shareholders and directors, regulation, and the understanding of shareholder responsibilities.

Montagnon's non-executive appointment is in addition to his role at the ABI, where he represents the interests of insurance companies, who as institutional investors, control funds worth £1,330bn of funds globally.

He was also appointed by the European Commission to serve on the new European Corporate Governance Forum in 2004.

Commenting on his appointment, Montagnon said: ‘The debate on corporate governance is becoming more international, and it’s a great honour from me - and for the ABI - to have been elected to this role.

'The strength of the ICGN is the commitment of its members and its executive director, Anne Simpson. I am looking forward to working with them to promote high standards of corporate governance which in turn should help companies generate long-term value for investors.’