Women quotas for company boards watered down

The government has endorsed plans to impose a gender quota for boards and managements of listed Swiss companies as part of a wide-ranging legal amendment to be discussed by parliament. The bill includes a minimum 30% quota for women on company boards and at least 20% for members of company managements. “The cabinet agreed that rules are necessary,” said Justice Minister Simonetta Sommaruga at a news conference on Wednesday. However, the bill stops short of imposing sanctions for companies which fail to implement the quota within up to five or ten years respectively. Instead, it proposes a ‘comply or explain’ regulation as a best practice standard. Sommaruga said the draft was taking into account opposition from the business community by proposing long transition periods. The government published the broad outline of the legal amendment last December. Commodities The cabinet wants firms in the commodities sector to publish payments in excess of CHF100,000 ...