SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro has announced the creation of new advisory committee which is intended to give investors a greater opportunity for input on the Commission’s reform program.

SEC Commissioner Luis Aguilar is the primary sponsor of the 18-person committee …

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Royal Dutch Shell is to pay $381 million plus interest to a foundation representing over 150 institutional investors in nineteen countries. The settlement, following a binding declaration by the Amsterdam Court of Appeals, is considered to be a milestone, given …

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At today’s AGM of Tomkins plc (FTSE 250 constituent), only 38.8% of shareholders voted in favour of the remuneration report resolution. Measured in terms of dissent (61.2%), the rebellion against the remuneration report ranks just outside the top ten all-time …

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On Shareolder Voting Trends

… It shows that the average level of support for management proposals rose from 75.8% in 2006 to 84% last year. In Europe, Manifest, a shareholder-advice firm, says 97% of all shareholder votes cast in …

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You don’t need telling that the onset of the worst global recession since the 1930s has led to a sharp rise in bankruptcies among small businesses and to hundreds of thousands of job losses.

But 2008 wasn’t especially painful for

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“Voting down Shell’s pay plan sent a chastened company back to consult over revised proposals. It also set a new high-water mark for annual meetings in a year marked by battles about pay across Europe and an increase in No …

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Manifest’s campaign to ensure shareholders at Irish companies have the opportunity to cast an advisory vote on the remuneration report gathered momentum over the weekend, with a full page article in the Irish edition of The Sunday Times.  Last month …

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As investors brace themselves for a slew of Japanese AGM meetings (the overwhelming majority of AGMs seem set to be held between 23 and 26 June), a compromise has emerged between the Keidanren (Japan’s business lobby) and the Japanese Ministry

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Beale and Company solicitors have published research which has found that only 17% of 100 audit firms had managed to agree a contract with a client to limit their liability for damages. A report in Accountancy Age cited the research, …

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Nine leading US pension funds have announced that they will be disclosing their voting intentions for shareholder meetings on a new web portal, ProxyDemocracy.  AFSCME Employees Pension Plan, CalPERS, CalSTRS, Calvert Investments, Christian Brothers Investment Services, Domini Social Investments, the …

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