House Chairperson, the DA agrees with the broad thrust of this Bill to amend the bank sector, because it defines the responsibility of a bank's remuneration committee in clause 34. It presents a real opportunity to reform the law to ensure that the executive pay is linked to their performance. The DA has a progressive and bold policy in this area.
We believe that we need to overhaul our laws, including the Companies Act, to ensure that transparency is increased so that shareholders can see more easily what the executives are being paid. We also believe that the power of the shareholders to hold the executives to account must be boosted, too.
Amongst other reforms, we propose that all auditor companies should publish the total figure for each director in their financial statements. Also, these companies should include an explanation of how the executive's pay relate to the company's performance. Furthermore, shareholders should get a real say over executives' pay. So, this Bill present the first real opportunity for the DA to get some of these proposals into legislation.
In the committee, we moved an amendment on clause 34, which the Whip was talking about, to require that a bank's remuneration committee must consult with shareholders on their executive's pay. We are very pleased that the committee saw it fit to support the DA. So, we support this Bill, especially this amendment, which is an important first step in our campaign to ensure that the executive's pay is aligned to performance. With this campaign, the DA will work to tackle those high-powered corporate insiders who abuse remuneration committees that are not independent, and abuse shareholders who are not sufficiently informed. I thank you.