Their proposals include timely publication of share-sensitive information, sanctions against ineffective supervisory boards and an overhaul of top managers' pay.

ECONOMIST: Bidding for the future | The

Co-determination, trade unions, supervisory boards and other inflexible features of German business life have already been put firmly on the sidelines.

ECONOMIST: German industry: Neighbours | The

Another sticking point for the merger is that employee representatives on the banks' supervisory boards are likely to voice fears of job cuts.

BBC: Dresdner meets on bank merger

The Netherlands: The Netherlands will encourage employers to commit to increase their present ratio from 9% of women on boards of directors and supervisory boards to 30%.

WHITEHOUSE: The White House

Insofar as there are only approximately 20-25 sufficiently trained Shariah authorities, each of these exclusive club members sits on dozens of the Shariah supervisory boards around the world.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Shariah��s Black Box

Mr Ospel shunned offers of seats on corporate supervisory boards.

ECONOMIST: Face value

Yet it does attempt to improve Germany's two-tier board system in particular, by making supervisory boards better guardians of shareholders' interests, despite the presence on these boards of workers' representatives and ex-managers.

ECONOMIST: German companies

On July 6th the European Parliament passed a resolution calling for EU-wide legislation stipulating that at least 40% of seats on listed companies' supervisory boards will be reserved for women by 2020.

ECONOMIST: Women in business

However in many continental European countries, such as Germany, there are two boards, an Executive Board made up of company representatives and a Supervisory Board made up of non-executive representatives of shareholders and employees.

BBC: Corporate governance report

This is in contrast to the two-tier boards of German companies, which have an executive management board overseen by a non-executive supervisory board.

ECONOMIST: America has Sarbanes-Oxley. Britain has Derek Higgs