SEC Archives

SEC Investor Advisory Committee gets to work

The SEC’s Investor Advisory Committee has kicked off its first meeting with an ambitious and far-reaching agenda.Sets Ambitious Agenda. At its inaugural meeting July 27, the committee, which includes institutional governance heavyweights Hye-Won Choi (TIAA-CREF), Mark Anson (Nuveen Investments), Abe Friedman (Barclays Global Investors), Dennis Johnson (Shamrock Activist Fund) and Damon Silvers (AFL-CIO), as well […]

Northern Rock shareholders fight on

Northern Rock’s former shareholders have lost their bid for a judicial review of the nationalisation compensation scheme but have vowed to press their claims in the the House of Lords and, potentially, the European Court of Human Rights. The House of Lords appeal could be heard in summer 2010 but an appeal to the European Court could take […]

US Bank Boards after the crisis

A research study by Manifest’s US partners, PROXYGovernance Inc(PGI), reveals some interesting trends about US board governance. PGI’s review of Russell 3000 companies holding their 2009 annual meeting prior to July 1 reveals that boards of financial services firms have added fewer new directors since the sub-prime credit crisis began than boards in any other major sector. […]

He who shouts loudest: who’s pulling the strings of cross-border voting reform?

Any choral singer will be familiar with the concept: a choir singing an acapella section will often naturally go ‘flat and lose pitch’, only to have to painfully re-adjust pitch when the orchestra joins in. Conversely, if the orchestra were to be playing in the wrong key (as a violinist and singer, a cruel but amusing […]

First there was vote borrowing, now there’s vote buying

The governance world has been concerned about the possible abuses arising from so-called “stock lending”, particularly when it comes to voting rights. Many commentators have suggested that it should really be called “temporary stock selling” to better reflect the legal reality of loss of ownership rights. Whatever its name, the potential for abuse is there. By […]

Financial Market Reform: US investors have their say

The Investors Working Group, a bi-partisan panel of experts created in February 2009 by the Council of Institutional Investors and the CFA Institute Centre for Financial Market Integrity, has released its recommendations for reform and modernisation of the US financial markets. According to the report, strengthening existing regulatory agencies, closing gaps in the regulatory structure, […]

Calpers sues ratings agencies over sub-prime losses

The California Public Employees Retirement System, or CalPERS, is the US’s largest pension fund which provides retirement benefits to 1.6 million public employees. It’s also one of the most active proponents of good corporate governance on both a domestic and global stage. The latest target of their ire is the credit rating industry which it […]

SEC approves broker voting reforms, promises to look at the plumbing

In a widely anticipated move, the US Securities and Exchange Commission has moved forward with an aggressive reform program to update the US proxy system. The SEC met today (01/07/09) to approve the New York Stock Exchange’s proposal regarding broker discretionary voting in uncontested director elections (NYSE Rule 452). In addition to the introduction of […]

Financial Mail on Sunday: The Information Gap, investors here told less

Angry shareholder groups are calling on regulators to overhaul rules that mean UK companies can provide dramatically different information to investors in the U.S. and here. Sarah Wilson, chief executive of respected shareholder advisory group Manifest, described it as ‘a system of information arbitrage’, giving superior knowledge to one group of investors over another. At […]

US Chamber of Commerce debates shareholder proxy access

The US Chamber of Commerce’s Center for Capital Markets Competitiveness conference convened this week to look at the impact of shareholder activism and shareholder rights. Two interesting themes have emerged from reports of the conference, firstly research into the impact of shareholder resolutions and secondly comments from SEC Commissioner Troy Paredes criticizing the SEC’s proposal’s […]