DoL questions purpose of shareholder voting The US Department of Labor (DoL) has thrown a new curveball into its approach to governing shareholder rights, questioning the need for asset owners to have their voices heard by companies at all. Following its recent proposals around how asset managers obtain and validate information on the companies they […]
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The Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC) has shelved proposals that would have limited the power of shareholder advisory firms in corporate decision making. The SEC is scrapping a portion of its proposal that would have forced proxy advisers to submit their voting recommendations to companies for checking before distributing them to investors in advance of […]
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Shareholder activists and proxy analysts face up to a year in jail and a fine of up to $4,000 if they fail to comply with a new regulations being proposed in the USA. The US state legislature in Texas has proposed a bill, which would, if passed, require activist investors and proxy advisory firms owning […]
Read MoreThe SEC this week weighed into the proxy advisor debate with Staff Legal Bulletin 20, which provides information on the proxy voting responsibilities of investment advisers (i.e. professional investors) as well as clarification on the exemptions from federal regulation which apply to proxy advisory firms. We welcome the focus placed by the SEC on the role and responsibilities of […]
Read MoreCanadian Securities Administrators (CSA), the umbrella organisation for Canada’s mosaic of markets regulators, is seeking feedback on its proposals for a policy on proxy advisory firms. “National Policy 25-201 Guidance for Proxy Advisory Firms” is the result of its 2012 consultation paper which looked at possible issues with the shareholder voting research industry. The CSA says […]
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The trouble with proxy advisors…. Is that everyone loves to hate them but, investors at least, can’t actually do their jobs without them. If we didn’t exist we’d have to be invented. So, what’s to be done? Yes, true, that opening statement was an enormous over-simplification, but the time has come to properly upack all […]
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Senator presses SEC’s Clayton over “Main St” letters report
A US Senator has called on the head of the US financial regulator to provide an update on the status of its reports into “apparently fraudulent comment letters” that showed support for proposed new rules on proxy advice. In a letter addressed to Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Jay Clayton, Senator Chris Van Hollen […]
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