ERISA Plan Fiduciaries’ Proxy Voting: Regulatory Updates
Back in June, Texas passed a law – known as “Senate Bill 2337” – that mandates certain disclosures when proxy advisors recommend casting a vote for “non-financial reasons” or provide conflicting advice to multiple clients....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 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
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
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
On July 22, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted amendments to its proxy rules addressing proxy voting advice provided by proxy advisory firms, such as ISS and Glass Lewis. The amendments were originally...more
On July 22, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) voted to adopt amendments (Amendments) to certain of its rules governing proxy solicitations under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Exchange Act). The...more
On April 2, 2020, the proxy advisory firm Glass Lewis announced that unedited company feedback may now be included with its proxy research reports and provided “directly to the voting decision makers at every investor...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
This newsletter discusses noteworthy updates, key regulatory decisions and upcoming compliance reminders. In this edition, we review: ...SEC Changes Approach to Shareholder Proposal No-Action Requests ...SEC Issues...more
As part of its overall review of how the federal proxy rules apply to proxy voting advice by proxy advisory firms, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) published two interpretive releases in August 2019, aimed at...more
On August 21, 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission issued two interpretive releases involving proxy voting and proxy voting advice. In the first release, the SEC provided guidance regarding the responsibilities of...more
On August 21, 2019, in a 3-2 vote, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) voted in favor of publishing guidance (guidance) regarding the proxy voting responsibilities of investment advisers (IAs). The guidance,...more
Following a 3-2 vote last week, the Securities and Exchange Commission has released two pieces of guidance related to the proxy voting process: ..Commission Guidance Regarding Proxy Voting Responsibilities of Investment...more
In two related releases issued on August 21, the SEC updated its guidance and interpretations to heighten the scrutiny given to the voting recommendations made by proxy advisory firms such as Institutional Shareholder...more
On August 21, 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), by a 3-2 vote, issued two separate releases providing interpretive guidance relating to the proxy voting process. One release addresses the proxy voting...more