board practices

Finance and Planning Committee
The Finance and Planning Committee works with management to set our annual and long-term strategic and financial plans and monitors adherence to these plans. It is responsible for setting our optimal capital structure and recommends the appropriate level of borrowing as well as the issuance of securities. Financial risk management is another responsibility of the Finance and Planning Committee. Ricardo Guajardo Touché is the chairman of the Finance and Planning Committee. The other members include: Federico Reyes García, Charles Brent Hastie, Enrique F. Senior Hernández and Miguel Eduardo Padilla Silva. The secretary non-member of the Finance and Planning Committee is Héctor Treviño Gutiérrez, our Chief Financial Officer.

Audit Committee
The Audit Committee is responsible for reviewing the accuracy and integrity of quarterly and annual financial statements in accordance with accounting, internal control and auditing requirements. The Audit Committee is directly responsible for the appointment, compensation, retention and oversight of the independent auditor, who reports directly to the Audit Committee; the internal auditing function also reports to the Audit Committee. The Audit Committee has implemented procedures for receiving, retaining and addressing complaints regarding accounting, internal control and auditing matters, including the submission of confidential, anonymous complaints from employees regarding questionable accounting or auditing matters. To carry out its duties, the Audit Committee may hire independent counsel and other advisors. As necessary, we compensate the independent auditor and any outside advisor hired by the Audit Committee and provide funding for ordinary administrative expenses incurred by the Audit Committee in the course of its duties. José Manuel Canal Hernando is the chairman of the Audit Committee and the “audit committee financial expert”. Pursuant to the Mexican Securities Market Law, the chairman of the Audit Committee is elected at our shareholders meeting. The other members are: Alfonso González Migoya, Charles H. McTier, Francisco Zambrano Rodríguez and Ernesto Cruz Velázquez de León. Each member of the Audit Committee is an independent director, as required by the Mexican Securities Market Law and applicable New York Stock Exchange listing standards. The secretary non-member of the Audit Committee is José González Ornelas, vice-president of FEMSA’s internal corporate control department.

Corporate Practices Committee
The Corporate Practices Committee, which consists exclusively of independent directors, is responsible for preventing or reducing the risk of performing operations that could damage the value of our company or that benefit a particular group of shareholders. The committee may call a shareholders meeting and include matters on the agenda for that meeting that it deems appropriate, approve policies on related party transactions, approve the compensation plan of the chief executive officer and relevant officers, and support our board of directors in the elaboration of related reports. The chairman of the Corporate Practices Committee is Daniel Javier Servitje Montull. Pursuant to the Mexican Securities Market Law, the chairman of the Corporate Practices Committee is elected at our shareholders meeting. The other members include: Jaime A. El Koury, Luis Rubio Freidberg and Luis A. Nicolau Gutiérrez. The secretary non-member of the Corporate Practices Committee is Raymundo Yutani Vela.

Audit Committee Financial Expert
Our shareholders and our board of directors have designated José Manuel Canal Hernando, an independent director as required by the Mexican Securities Market Law and applicable New York Stock Exchange listing standards, as an “audit committee financial expert”.