Chapter 1 describes the importance of the role of institutional investors in promoting good corporate governance in the companies they invest in, particularly in the Latin American context of concentrated ownership and often illiquid markets. The chapter refers to leading international initiatives, conclusions and consensus recommendations that provide a starting point for Latin American consideration of this subject, such as those set out in the White Paper on Corporate Governance in Latin America (2003), OECD Principles of Corporate Governance (2004), the Corporate Governance Approach Statement by Development Finance Institutions (2007), the International Corporate Governance Network’s Statement of Principles on Institutional Shareholder Responsibilities (2007), and the OECD’s Corporate Governance and the Financial Crisis: Conclusions and Emerging Good Practices to Enhance Implementation of the Principles (2010).