STANDARD Life will "urge, encourage and cajole" Irish public companies to adopt a new corporate governance policy, which includes separating the role of chairman and chief executive.

The Edinburgh assurance group has written to chairmen and the senior management of the major companies emphasising the need "for

. separation of the roles of chairman and chief executive

. effective, independent non executive directors

comprehensive disclosure of, remuneration

. incentive schemes which reward high performance "and not mediocrity" service contracts not exceeding a year.

A number of Irish public companies still combine the roles of chairman and chief executive, despite the guidelines introduced by the Irish Association of Investment Managers. These include Ireland's biggest industrial company, Jefferson Smurfit, Abbey, Kingspan, Ryan Hotels and Woodchester.

Standard Life's investment manager for Ireland, Mr Des Doran, said the company would be content with a combined chairman/chief executive if there was a "counter balancing" structure on the board in the form of an executive directors' committee "with the power to hire and fire".

The life assurance group, however, will not become involved in a public dialogue with companies which do not adopt its corporate governance policy, but will "urge, encourage and cajole . . . and we will do so discreetly but firmly, remembering that open disagreements with companies do not help share value".

Asked what Standard's attitude would be if companies refused to adopt the policies, Mr Doran said At the end of the day, our actions will be governed by what's best for our investors and policyholders.

"We can't force any company to do anything. A company can say no, but there may be a time when companies need friendly shareholders."