It’s a directive that promises to give a new meaning to the expression ”corporate relations”.
In a move that has caused horror in boardrooms across Spain, the country’s stock market regulator has demanded twice-yearly disclosures about the love lives of business leaders. From July, directors will have to own up not just to any dealings with their spouses and family, but also those with anybody else with whom they have developed an ”affectionate relationship”.
It is widely agreed that lovers and gay partners will be part of the package.
The regulations, the work of the national stock market commission, are designed to stop lovers and their families being the beneficiaries of special contracts or privileged information about stock movements.
How the directive will be enforced is unclear. Nevertheless, there has been a discreet rebellion from wheeler dealers of both sexes. ”Laughable,” Ricard Fornesa, the president of the huge La Caixa savings bank, was reported as saying.
Others preferred to remain off the record, though one corporate lawyer said it was unlikely that all senior executives would willingly provide lovers’ names.
Analysts said the crackdown was unique. El Mundo newspaper denounced what it called a ”impossible stock market inquisition”.
”Where is this register of partners and lovers to be?” it asked. ”What constitutional precept allows such an invasion of privacy?”
The commission said it was simply bringing the rules up to date to deal with ”new forms of human relationships”. – Guardian Unlimited Â