The Baillie Gifford Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust Company has good shares
announced that its chairman was resigning just days after a controversy over the company’s governance.
Fiona McBain, who has been chairwoman of FTSE-listed Scottish Mortgage since 2017 and a director since 2009, will stand down after this year’s annual general meeting, the trust said on Tuesday. He will be replaced by the company’s senior independent director Justin Dowley.
McBain’s exit comes less than a week after Amar Bhidé, Scottish Mortgage’s non-executive director from 2020, launched criticism of corporate governance at the trust, including McBain’s tenure as chairman.
The UK corporate governance code recommends a nine-year limit for board seats, from the date of becoming a non-executive.
In a statement on Tuesday, Scottish Mortgage said Bhidé “has now left the board and is no longer a director of the company”. Bhidé told the Financial Times last week that he was asked to resign because he did not agree on the appointment of new board members.
Another director, Professor Paola Subacchi, will also retire from
The Scottish Mortgage board after the AGM, after serving for nine years.
Dowley said: “I would also like to thank Fiona for her 14 years of loyal and outstanding service to the company, particularly over the past few years (and at the request of her fellow directors) providing essential continuity, assurance and leadership during extraordinary circumstances. from Covid-19.”
The general bust-up is rare following years of bruising which shows his confidence
the price has tumbled more than 30 per cent as the rise of growth stocks
that has propelled its performance over the past decade has been curbed by higher interest rates.