I couldn’t help laughing when I saw that the National Association of Manufacturers has filed a motion with the court to intervene in the ISS lawsuit challenging the SEC’s new rule on proxy advisory firms. What they are asking is to be considered one of the parties to the case, and thus be allowed to…
Tag: proxy advisory firms
ISS’s Lorraine Kelly Responds to SEC Rule on Proxy Advisors
Lorraine Kelly, head of governance business at ISS, writes in Barron’s about the SEC’s proxy advisory rule. An excerpt: Since last year, the Securities and Exchange Commission has been swept up in a well-funded corporate lobbying campaign pressing for enactment of onerous regulations that will make it more difficult for shareholders to voice disagreement with…
VEA Vice Chair Quoted: Divided SEC Passes Controversial Proxy Advisor Rule
Nell Minow, Vice Chair of ValueEdge Advisors and a co-founder and former president of Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (ISS), takes a different view on the proxy advisor rules. She told me that the rulemaking procedure is deficient in several different ways, and could be subject to court challenge. Initially, the Commission acted without proper regard…
SEC Commissioner Allison Lee on Her Vote Against the Proxy Advisor Rule
Paying More For Less: Higher Costs for Shareholders, Less Accountability for Management Commissioner Allison Lee photo Commissioner Allison Herren Lee July 22, 2020 At the proposing stage for these rules, I observed that they would harm the governance process and suppress the free and full exercise of shareholder voting rights. Unfortunately, that is still the…
SEC approves new rules for proxy advisers | Financial Times
With a party-line vote, the three Republican SEC Commissioners today approved a slightly less atrocious version of their proxy advisory firm rule. We will be posting more information and further reactions later. The US Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday approved new restrictions on proxy advisers but dropped a measure that would have required the…
Proxy adviser ISS recommends vote ‘against’ executive pay at Alphabet – Reuters
Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) has recommended shareholders of Google-parent Alphabet Inc to vote “against” the company’s proposed executive pay at its annual meet in June, according to a report seen by Reuters on Thursday. “The compensation committee has demonstrated poor stewardship of pay programs as evidenced by recurring concerns of outsized awards that are not…
A Proposal Based on The Wrong Assumptions: “Stop, Look and Listen” for Proxy Advisors
The lawyers from law and lobbying firm Squire Patton Boggs overlook three key points with their self-categorized “modest proposal” on the SEC’s proxy advisory rule. Their proposal is based a completely faulty characterization of the law, the facts, and the obvious and most effective policy. Oh, and they also forget to mention that their client…
VEA’s Second Supplemental Comment to the SEC on Proposed Proxy Advisor Rule
A second supplemental comment, reflecting new information and responses to some of the other comments: 1. Further Evidence that Corporate Claims of Zombie “Robo-Voting” are Bunk: We have noted previously that assertions that fund managers “robo-vote” are unsupported and contrary to the data. The findings of a new study by Lily Tomson of ShareAction prove…
Further Evidence that Corporate Claims of Zombie “Robo-Voting” are Bunk
The findings of a new study by Lily Tomson of ShareAction prove that the claims of the Chamber of Commerce and its various sock puppets are complete bunk. Finding 1: ISS, the largest proxy advisor, is more supportive of environmental and social resolutions than the largest asset managers. The majority of asset managers in our…
SEC’s New Rules Undermine Shareholder Rights – Bloomberg
Yale’s Jonathan Macey on the SEC’s proposed rule on proxy advisors: It is indeed strange that the SEC, whose mission is to protect investors, is putting its thumb forcefully on the scale in favor of companies and against investors. Its proposal would land a one-two punch against corporate democracy and freedom of speech. Not only…
