Big French listed companies have responded well to new guidance on executive pay disclosure, according to a new analysis published by the country’s market regulator, the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF). But compliance by smaller companies has been patchy.

The French employers’ confederation, MEDEF, and the private companies association, AFEP, published new pay disclosure guidance in October 2008. The government told companies to adopt it by the end of the year.

The guidance says companies should not give chairmen and chief executives open-ended employment contracts that pay out even if they are sacked for poor performance. It also caps severance bonuses and limits the scope for companies to give directors pension top-ups and free shares. And it includes a standardized format for companies to disclose their pay policies.

The AMF said that by January 7 some 90 percent of the 128 listed companies that had turnover in excess of €1bn had “adopted unreservedly” the new guidance. Three more of these “Compartment A” companies said they adopted them with reservations. Most of the rest said they planned to adopt them shortly.

However, in the next tier of companies, the 180 with capitalization between €150m and €1bn, the proportion complying fell to 56 percent. For the 289 companies in the bottom tier, the figure was even lower at just 33 percent.