ERISA Plan Fiduciaries’ Proxy Voting: Regulatory Updates
What are ISS and Glass Lewis and Why Should My Bank Care?
Under the new administration, several shifts in E&S have impacted public companies across a number of different practice areas. In light of these developments, companies are taking a wide array of approaches to disclosure,...more
In anticipation of the upcoming reporting season, this Update highlights some of the most significant rule changes, guidance, institutional investor areas of focus, and trends for public companies to consider while preparing...more
Recently, Glass Lewis announced the release of its 2025 U.S. Benchmark Policy Guidelines and guidelines for Shareholder Proposals & ESG-Related Issues that apply across markets. Here are 8 things to know about this year’s...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
On December 19, 2023, ISS Governance announced updates to its 2024 benchmark proxy voting policies. The full text of the updated benchmark policies for 2024 should be available later this month and will generally apply to...more
On November 21, 2023, Institutional Shareholder Services (“ISS”) Governance announced proposed changes to its benchmark voting policy for 2024 (the “Proposed Changes”). To ensure that a broad range of perspectives is...more
In recent years "overboarding" has become an important issue for many UK companies and investors alike. Several large asset managers as well as proxy advisors, including Vanguard, BlackRock, and LGIM, have tightened their...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
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC’s) new universal proxy rules, which took effect for meetings after August 31, 2022, require the use of “universal” proxy cards in all director election contests, except for...more
Institutional Shareholder Services ("ISS") and Glass Lewis & Co. LLC ("Glass Lewis"), the two major proxy advisory firms, recently issued their updated proxy voting guidelines for the 2023 proxy season. These policy updates...more
On November 17, 2022, Glass Lewis released its 2023 U.S. Policy Guidelines (U.S. Guidelines) and its 2023 ESG Initiatives Policy Guidelines (ESG Guidelines), effective for shareholder meetings on or after January 1, 2023. On...more
Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Glass Lewis, the leading proxy advisors in the United States, have announced updates and clarifications for their voting guidelines for the 2023 proxy season. Their voting...more
During the third quarter of 2022, the SEC amended rules governing proxy voting advice, proposed amendments to shareholder proposal regulation, and adopted its long-awaited final pay versus performance disclosure rules (a...more
ESG-related shareholder proposals featured prominently in the most recent proxy season, with nearly 40% of large-cap public companies facing a shareholder vote on ESG topics over the first half of 2022. As introduced in an...more
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler has had a very active regulatory agenda that has invited a lot of controversy due to both its ambitious scope and the speed of implementation. While there are...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 a win for activist shareholders, on November 17, 2021, the SEC voted to adopt final rules requiring the use in contested director elections of domestic issuers of "universal proxy cards," or proxy cards naming all director...more
Yesterday the SEC approved new proxy rules requiring the use of universal proxy cards by management and shareholders soliciting proxy votes for their candidates in non-exempt director election contests, as well as mandating...more
As expected, the SEC has adopted final rules requiring the use of universal proxy cards in shareholder meetings involving non-exempt contested director elections held after August 31, 2022. In addition, certain amendments...more
John Jenkins at DealLawyers.com took note of this recent blog by Professor Ann Lipton concerning the stockholder vote at The Tribune Publishing Company. The gist of both these blogs was the decision by a 24% stockholder in...more
On Monday, John Jenkins at Deallawyers.com wrote about a recent Delaware Court of Chancery decision finding that as alleged, "the Director Defendants’ decisions to delegate the Proxy to the Conflicted Officer Defendants and...more
The nation’s largest shareholder advisory firm, Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (“ISS”), recently filed suit against the SEC over new guidelines meant to give investors more transparency into how proxy advisory firms...more
Institutional Shareholder Services ("ISS") and Glass, Lewis & Co ("Glass Lewis") have both released their updates to their respective Canadian proxy voting guidelines for the 2020 proxy season. The ISS updates apply to...more
New Rules, Proposed Rules, Guidance and Alerts - PROPOSED RULES – SEC Proposes Rule Changes for Proxy Advisory Firms – On November 5, 2019, the SEC issued a release proposing amendments to the federal proxy rules...more
Stinson has prepared an analysis of proposed rules recently adopted by the SEC at an open meeting on November 5. SEC Commissioners voted 3-2 to propose potentially significant changes to the shareholder proposals...more