ERISA Plan Fiduciaries’ Proxy Voting: Regulatory Updates
Overview of Committee Member Responsibilities - Compensation committee (Committee) members’ duties and responsibilities generally are outlined in the Committee’s organizational charter approved by the board of directors...more
Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Glass Lewis, the leading proxy voting advisory firms in the United States, have announced updates and clarifications for their voting guidelines for the U.S. market for the 2024...more
As we enter the 2023 proxy season, there are a number of new regulatory requirements, both technical and substantive, that have been implemented, and many more on the horizon. For example, many companies will need to comply...more
As companies begin preparing for the 2023 proxy season, we note that Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (ISS) and Glass Lewis, the leading providers of corporate governance solutions and proxy advisory services, issued...more
On September 19, 2022, amendments to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rules governing proxy solicitations became effective. The amendments, proposed on November 17, 2021, seek to address concerns by investors and...more
On July 13, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) voted to rescind several amendments to its rules governing proxy voting advice (the Final Amendments). The vote reversed some of the key provisions...more
On July 13, 2022, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), by a 3-2 vote, adopted amendments to the rules governing proxy voting advice businesses (proxy advisors), rescinding two components of the proxy rules...more
The SEC has posted its Spring 2022 Reg-Flex agenda and it’s crammed with pending and new rulemakings—and they’re all going to be proposed or adopted in October! (Ok, admittedly, that’s an exaggeration, but not much of one.)...more
Institutional investors and proxy advisory firms continue developing and refining their policies regarding board diversity. While gender diversity on public company boards has been in focus for some time now, institutional...more
Despite a California superior court’s recent ruling against a 2020 California law (AB 979), the move toward increasing board diversity is alive and well, as proxy advisory firms, institutional investors, Nasdaq and others...more
Over a decade ago, I posited the following question: "Should a proxy card specify a choice of law?" In a recently issued ruling, Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster noted in the following lengthy footnote that choice of law...more
Takeaways - Independence is neither a fixed condition nor a universal status for all purposes. Events and relationships can disqualify an otherwise independent director from participating in decisions.. No matter how pure a...more
In the past few weeks, both major proxy advisory firms, Institutional Shareholder Services ("ISS") and Glass Lewis & Co. LLC ("Glass Lewis"), have issued their updated proxy voting guidelines for the 2022 proxy season. These...more
In this issue, we cover regulatory developments impacting the investment management sector, including proposed legislation supported by the Investment Company Institute to address challenges for closed-end funds; the...more
In 2019, the SEC proposed changes to its proxy advisor rules (the “2019 Proposed Rules”). Later the SEC adopted final rules regarding proxy voting advice (the “2020 Final Rules”) provided by proxy advisory firms, or proxy...more
On November 17, 2021, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), by a 3-2 vote, proposed amendments to the rules governing proxy voting advice businesses (proxy advisors). The amendments would rescind two portions of...more
For years, many companies and business lobbies, such as the National Association of Manufacturers, repeatedly raised concerns about proxy advisory firms’ concentrated power and significant influence over corporate elections...more
Today, shareholders are increasingly demanding corporate accountability on a variety of issues, ranging from compensation and human capital management to governance and board diversity, among others. As a result, most...more
Newly installed Chairman Gary Gensler announced on June 1, 2021 that he is directing the SEC staff to consider whether to revisit its recent actions with respect to proxy voting advice businesses, including: ..The SEC’s...more
Institutional investors and proxy advisory firms continue to develop and refine their policies regarding board diversity. While gender diversity on public company boards has been in focus for some time now, institutional...more
Key Pointss - Large asset managers like BlackRock and State Street have recently published updates to their proxy voting guidelines primarily focusing on diversity and inclusion and climate risk disclosures. -...more
The SEC’s long-awaited final rules governing voting advice provided by proxy advisory firms such as Institutional Shareholders Service (ISS) and Glass Lewis (the “final rules”) became effective on November 2, 2020. The final...more
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted U.S. public companies in myriad ways. The fact that the traditional proxy season — the period from April through June when a substantial number of public companies hold their annual meetings...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission on September 23, 2020, adopted final amendments to Rule 14a-8, which governs the process for shareholder proposals submitted for inclusion in a company’s proxy statement. The amendments...more
Regardless of your view of the efficacy of ESG disclosure for publicly-traded companies, investors increasingly are insisting on it, and the advisors that can profit from it the most – proxy advisory firms, large accounting...more