Author Archives: Liz Pfeuti
Consumer groups slam attempt to delay SRD II

Large fund group votes stymying ESG resolutions

Some of the world’s largest fund groups voted against nearly 90 per cent of ESG-related shareholder resolutions in 2019, despite overall investor support for these proposals climbing in the past five years, a …

Read More
FRC: Expectations and standards ‘still apply’

Can the FRC rescue its reputation?

It has become one of the most disparaged – and lampooned – regulatory institutions of this century.

The Financial Reporting Council’s (FRC) oversight of the audit profession has been dubbed everything from ramshackle to

Read More
Risk Coalition

The Risk Coalition has published its long-awaited final principles-based guidance for UK board risk committees – urging firms to adopt the principles early to meet the “challenging” framework. 

In its guidance report, titled ‘Raising the Bar’, the Risk Coalition outlines …

Read More
Shareholders Westpack

Furious Westpac shareholders have slapped a second strike on the bank, as investors confronted the firm for the first time since its child sex and money laundering scandals.

At the Australian bank’s AGM in Sydney on 12 December, an overwhelming …

Read More

Nearly nine in 10 investment professionals doubt that climate risks are being correctly priced into company valuations, a major poll reveals.

The survey, conducted by the prominent Global Sustainable Investment Alliance (GSIA), found an overwhelming 87% of respondents do not …

Read More
SEC chairman Jay Clayton

SEC chairman Jay Clayton has faced an extraordinary grilling over the fake investor letters he cited in ‘support’ of the regulator’s proxy advisor rule changes – with a prominent US senator telling him he was “duped”.

Clayton was finally forced …

Read More
BlackRock step up on climate change

A group of investors are urging industry giants BlackRock and JPMorgan to review their proxy voting records amid concerns they don’t match the firms’ public declarations about climate change.

Mercy Investment Services and Boston Trust Walden have written to BlackRock …

Read More
FCA

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has updated its proxy advisor enforcement rules following industry feedback.

The update follows the regulator’s proxy advisor Shareholders’ Rights Regulations (SRD II), which came into force in June, that gave the FCA …

Read More
A major activist group has launched a petition to fight the SEC’s shareholder proposal rules

A major activist group has launched a petition to fight the SEC’s shareholder proposal rules – already securing nearly two-thirds of the 75,000 target signatories.

Credo Action, which represents millions of activists around the globe fighting for progressive change, warned …

Read More
Pile of astroturf

SEC falls foul of proxy astroturf

Did the SEC cite fake letters to support its proxy clampdown?

The SEC’s attempts to impose tough new regulations on proxy advisers have taken a sinister turn following revelations its chairman has been citing …

Read More