Aberdeen's Gilbert: Five years on from the Kay Review and institutions are still too short-termist

"The epic story of Ulysses tying himself to the mast to resist the call of the sirens demonstrates the length of the history of attempts to construct devices and institutions to combat our instinctive short-termism."

In July 2012, Professor John Kay framed the problem of short-termism by citing the The Odyssey.  Five years on from the publication of the Kay Review of UK Equity Markets and Long-Term Decision Making, how much progress have institutions made in resisting the siren song? The simple answer is certainly "not enough".  Management mindset The overarching conclusion of the Kay Review was short-termism is a problem in UK equity markets, caused primarily by the decline in trust and a misalignment of incentives. At a company level there remains a reluctance to commit long-term capital...