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Plus Factors in Price-Fixing Litigation

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Antitrust plaintiffs typically rely on circumstantial evidence when pursuing price-fixing claims, because price-fixing conspirators usually conceal their collusion through code names, secret meetings, cover stories, and falsified documents. Antitrust law uses a two-step process for proving price-fixing agreements through circumstantial evidence. First, the plaintiff shows that the defendants engaged in similar conduct, referred to as “conscious parallelism.” Second, the plaintiff presents plus factors, which are evidence that suggests the defendants’ parallel conduct is the product of collusion, not independent decisions by the defendant firms. Following the Supreme Court’s mandate in Continental Ore Co. v. Union Carbide & Carbon Corp. that … Read more

Milbank Discusses SEC Guidance on Shareholder Proposals and the Way to Regulate Climate Change

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As a result of the SEC’s most recent Staff Legal Bulletin[1] (“SLB”), shareholder proposals that focus on a “significant social policy” will not be excludable simply because the policy issue is not, in fact, “significant” to the company receiving the proposal. The SEC has decided it will no longer “focus on the nexus between a policy issue and the company.”  Previously, shareholder proposals that did not raise a “policy issue of significance for the company” were excludable under the “ordinary course of business” exception to Rule 14a-8.[2] The new Staff Legal Bulletin is a departure from past … Read more

How Holdouts Put Restructuring at Risk

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Corporate creditors, perhaps like Americans generally, like to think of themselves as rugged individuals who also work within a communal system.  The fundamental tension is clearest at the point of default: Too much individuality, and a small minority of creditors can block a useful deal that would get the debtor-firm back on track.  But too much collective process, and the majority can bulldoze the minority, forcing it to take outsized losses when the majority cuts a side deal with the firm and its managers.

The restructuring system – comprised of chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code, parts of the securities … Read more

Paul Weiss Discusses Federal Jury Verdict Finding Cryptocurrency Products Not Securities

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On November 2, 2021, a federal jury in Audet v. Fraser found that four cryptocurrency-related products were not securities under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Connecticut Uniform Securities Act. This case is significant because it appears to be the first time a jury has reached a verdict on whether cryptocurrency products are securities under the test articulated by the Supreme Court in SEC v. W.J. Howey Co., 328 U.S. 293 (1946). This case thus is instructive in the developing area of law as to whether digital assets and other crypto-related products may be considered to be … Read more

Debt and Taxes: Why Loans Are Really Leases

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Debt has been a ubiquitous form of finance for millennia, and one might reasonably assume that we have a good handle on exactly what it is by now. It turns out that may not be the case.

A loan is commonly understood as the lender’s transfer of funds to the borrower on condition that the funds be repaid, with interest due in the interim. That is, the transaction is framed as a swap of loan proceeds on one hand for promises to pay interest and the amount borrowed back on the other. Call this the “standard view.” Under it, the … Read more

Gibson Dunn Discusses SEC Rules Mandating Use of Universal Proxy Card

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On November 17, 2021, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved amendments to the federal proxy rules to mandate the use of a universal proxy card in public solicitations involving director election contests. After the rules become effective on August 31, 2022, proxy cards distributed by both public companies and activist shareholders in a contested director election will have to include both sides’ director nominees, such that shareholders casting their vote can “mix and match” nominees from the company’s and dissident’s slates of nominees. We believe that the new rules are likely to embolden activists and increase the incidence of … Read more

SEC Announces Enforcement Results for FY 2021

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The Securities and Exchange Commission today [November 18] announced that it filed 434 new enforcement actions in fiscal year 2021, representing a 7 percent increase over the prior year. Seventy percent of these new or “stand-alone” actions involved at least one individual defendant or respondent. The new actions spanned the entire securities waterfront, including against emerging threats in the crypto and SPAC spaces. For example, the SEC charged a company for operating an unregistered online digital asset exchange, charged a crypto lending platform and top executives alleging a $2 billion fraud, and brought an action against a special purpose

… Read more

SEC Commissioner Crenshaw on Universal Proxy Rules

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Congratulations to the rulemaking team from the Division of Corporation Finance, as well as the staff within the Division of Economic and Risk Analysis and the Office of the General Counsel. This rulemaking has been several years in the making,[1] and I am glad that we are here today to finalize it.

The reality of modern board of director elections is that few shareholders attend a corporation’s annual meeting in-person to vote.[2] The ramifications of this are meaningful. Proxy voters in contested Board of Directors elections are usually unable to choose a mix of dissident and management nominees.

… Read more

SEC Commissioner Peirce Dissents on Universal Proxy Rules

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I support universal proxy, but not today’s version of universal proxy.

Shareholders voting by proxy should be able to split their vote among company and dissident nominees.  Allowing shareholders a straightforward way of choosing a mixed slate through a universal proxy card can facilitate sensible changes to board composition.  Universal proxy makes sense for both operating companies and investment companies.  This particular universal proxy rule, however, may facilitate changes to the company that advance special interests rather than enhancing corporate value by serving as a tool for frivolous, as well as serious, activists.  I might have been able to support

… Read more

SEC Commissioner Roisman on Universal Proxy Rules

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Thank you to the staff who worked on this rulemaking.

I support adopting this rule.  I see no compelling reason to prevent shareholders from mixing and matching their votes between a management and dissident slate, given that shareholders who attend meetings are already able to vote in this way.

I would have preferred, however, that today’s rule include certain additional changes and believe we should continue to consider those going forward.  First, I believe we should have given greater consideration to having this rule apply to funds.  I have heard no clear argument for why they should be treated differently

… Read more

Rewiring Corporate Law for an Interconnected World

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The traditional view of corporate law can be summarized as follows. Shareholders have a single well-defined objective, namely “to maximize the net present value of the firm’s earnings per dollar invested” (Hansmann, 283). Managing companies in the interest of shareholders that aim at maximizing the net present value of their firm leads to a higher level of social welfare than any realistically available alternative. Within that framework, the goal of corporate law is straightforward: aligning managers’ preferences to those of shareholders.

In a recent paper of ours, we show that this view is premised on two assumptions that … Read more

ISS Discusses Intangible Assets and Company Valuation

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Intangible assets continue to represent a significant portion of the overall Balance Sheet globally. Over 40% of capital in the US today is in the form of intangible assets, as assessed by our ISS EVA (Economic Value Added) methodology. The growth in intangibles has made valuing and evaluating companies more difficult, as disclosure and treatment of intangible assets varies globally. In our most resent ISS EVA & ISS ESG white paper we explore the relationship between intangibles and valuation as well as intangibles and ESG.

EVA stands for economic value added. EVA equals the return on capital, which is net

… Read more

Regulating via Social Media: Deterrence Effects of the SEC’s Use of Twitter

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Social media is widely used to create, disseminate, and consume information. Today, around seven in 10 U.S. adults use social media.[1] Additionally, more than half of Americans at least occasionally obtain news through social media.[2] In financial markets, investors use social media to express their opinions, and companies use it to disseminate information. Financial regulatory agencies are also increasingly adopting social media to connect with financial market participants. The SEC, for example, frequently tweets about its actions and activities.[3] Yet, we know very little about whether the SEC’s use of social media influences the behavior of entities … Read more

SEC Commissioner Speaks on ESG Risks and Company Accounting Controls

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Thank you for the kind introduction Kevin [Gould]. It’s a pleasure to be here today at the annual PepsiCo-PwC CPE conference, which I understand is a tradition going back 18 years now. I appreciate the opportunity to speak, and I look forward to answering your questions today.

It’s not often—even in this job—that I find myself speaking before such a large group of controllers, accountants and other finance professionals of public companies. And I welcome it because it means we can get a bit more technical and talk about financial reporting issues. I suspect many of you will not be

… Read more

Competing Approaches to Director Liability in the Zone of Insolvency

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When should directors be held liable for their company’s distressed financial condition? In a recent article, we show that the answer varies widely across legal regimes. We focus on the zone of insolvency, a phase in the company’s life when its financial condition is unstable and deteriorating, but it has yet to enter a formal bankruptcy proceeding (and theoretically may never enter such a proceeding).

There are two main approaches to dealing with directors’ actions when their company is in this zone. Under the American and Canadian approach, directors are generally held to the same corporate law standards that … Read more

Sullivan & Cromwell Discusses FinCEN Update of Ransomware Advisory

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On November 8, 2021, the United States Department of the Treasury Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) issued an updated version of its Advisory on Ransomware and the Use of the Financial System to Facilitate Ransom Payments, originally issued in the fall of 2020.  Coming as part of a strengthened and more unified federal government focus on the ransomware threat, the Updated Advisory provides additional guidance to regulated institutions on how to detect potential ransomware payments and augments FinCEN’s call for institutions to report suspected ransomware transactions promptly.  FinCEN released the Updated Advisory contemporaneously with a joint enforcement action against a … Read more

ESG Investing: Why Here? Why Now?

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ESG investing is taking the world of finance by storm.  Few concepts have come to dominate an academic discipline as quickly as Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) has come to dominate the field of corporate law.  While certain forms of ESG investing and governance have been around since the 19th century and achieved some prominence during the anti-apartheid movement, [1] the term “ESG” first appeared in 2004, when the former UN secretary general challenged various financial institutions “to develop guidelines and recommendations on how to better integrate environmental, social and corporate governance issues in asset management, securities brokerage services … Read more

Debevoise & Plimpton Discusses Federal Regulators’ Focus on AI and Consumer Protection in Finance

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As financial institutions increasingly deploy artificial intelligence (“AI”), including machine learning and automated decision-making technologies, across their business lines, U.S. federal regulators have started to scrutinize the consumer protection implications of these technologies. Most recently, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”), in partnership with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (“OCC”), announced a new interagency “Combatting Redlining Initiative,” with a particular focus by the CFPB on “digital redlining” resulting from biased underwriting algorithms. The DOJ, OCC and CFPB initiative follows closely on the heels of another recent announcement by the White House … Read more

How Investment Banks’ Disagreement over Valuation Contributes to the Winner’s Curse

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The well-developed theory of the winner’s curse can potentially explain the poor performance of mergers and acquisitions (Roll, 1986). A key reason for the curse is the uncertainty concerning a deal’s value (e.g., Capen, Clapp, and Campbell, 1971; Bazerman and Samuelson, 1983; Varaiya, 1988).  The greater the disagreement over the target’s value, the more likely that a winning bid will fail to account for the uncertainty and lead to overpayment. The empirical relevance of the winner’s curse is central to takeover efficiency, because it teaches that the bidder who overpays the most, instead of the bidder who can create the … Read more

SEC Chair Talks Private Equity and Hedge Funds

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Thank you. As is customary, I will note that I am not speaking on behalf of the Commission or SEC staff.

Today, I’d like to talk about private funds, and the importance of certain of these funds — in particular, private equity and hedge funds — to our capital markets.

Why do these funds matter?

First, they matter because they’re large, and they’re growing in size, complexity, and number. Altogether, U.S. private funds have gross assets under management of $17 trillion with net assets of $11.5 trillion.[1] The sheer size and transaction activities of these funds represent a critical portion … Read more

Modernizing ESG and Climate Risk Disclosure

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On November 3, timed to coincide with the United Nation’s COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, the IFRS Foundation announced prototype global reporting standards for corporate climate and sustainability disclosures, and the formation of the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) to further develop them.  It also announced that it would consolidate under the ISSB two leading sources of climate disclosure guidance, the Climate Disclosure Standards Board (CDSB) and the Value Reporting Foundation. (Earlier in 2021 the VRF had already brought together two other highly influential standard-setters — the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) and the International Integrated Reporting Council).

These … Read more

Sullivan & Cromwell Discusses Stablecoins Report of President’s Working Group on Financial Markets

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The President’s Working Group on Financial Markets (the “PWG”),[1] the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (the “OCC”) published the Report on Stablecoins on November 1, 2021.[2] The Report (1) provides a high-level background description of stablecoins, (2) outlines potential risks and regulatory implications, building on prior publications by other regulators and international regulatory bodies, and (3) sets forth recommendations for legislation (or, pending congressional action, interim measures by regulators) to ensure that “payment stablecoins”[3] and payment stablecoin arrangements are subject to a consistent and comprehensive federal prudential framework. … Read more

Shocking Business Bankruptcy Law

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In a recent essay, Shocking Business Bankruptcy Law, I discuss how crisis is used strategically to push legal boundaries in large chapter 11 cases in ways that are not readily reversed. I focus primarily on two phenomena. The first is bankruptcy à la carte. Chapter 11 is akin to a fixed price meal; it offers extraordinary perks as part of a broader package meant to promote objectives with diffuse beneficiaries. In bankruptcy à la carte, parties such as lenders and distressed company acquirers extract the perks provided in the Bankruptcy Code without having to endure the oversight, … Read more

SEC Enforcement Chief Speaks on Regulation Outside the U.S.

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Good morning, everyone and thank you for inviting me to deliver the Scott Friestad Memorial Keynote address. I didn’t have the privilege of knowing Scott, but in my few months as Director, I’ve frequently heard his name, and I’ve noticed that it is always uttered with respect and affection. Staff considered him a leader, a model Enforcement attorney, a mentor, and a friend. I’m honored to deliver this address that bears his name.

It’s also a privilege to address so many of our foreign counterparts. As our economies and securities markets become increasingly interconnected, it’s important that we continue to

… Read more

When Should You Abstain? A Call for a Global Rule of Insider Trading

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The core concepts of securities regulation tend to be similar across jurisdictions. However, there are differences that may seem small and insignificant at first glance but in fact generate the potential for arbitrage by the kind of sophisticated actors that engage in cross-border mergers and acquisitions.

In a recent paper, we shed light on significant differences in the rules governing the definition of what is material information with regard to unfolding events.

Both the U.S. and European jurisdictions treat information regarding “material” events as important to investors and apply insider trading prohibitions when material information remains nonpublic. Hence, “materiality” … Read more

Wachtell Lipton Discusses SEC Staff’s Move to Limit Exclusion of “Social Policy” Shareholder Proposals

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The SEC Staff has issued revised guidance rescinding prior Staff Legal Bulletins addressing the exclusion of Rule 14a-8 shareholder proposals based on the social significance to a company, “micromanagement” or  “economic relevance.”  The changes will likely facilitate a larger number of shareholder proposals, including ESG proposals, coming to a shareholder vote.

Ordinary Business Exception: The new guidance revises the SEC’s application of the “ordinary business” exclusion, which considered whether a proposal was of social policy significance or sought to micromanage a company.  While the Staff has previously focused on the significance of a social policy issue to a particular issuer, … Read more

The Dark Side of Information Dissemination

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For decades, there has been an important debate over how much securities regulators should focus on protecting small investors. The regulators themselves have generally aimed to create a level playing field among investors, and historically, new technology has been an integral part of accomplishing this goal. Yet many posit that providing less sophisticated investors with better access to pertinent information can also impose significant costs on other market participants, regulators, and firms. Little, however, is known empirically about whether such costs exist or when they are greatest.

In a recent study, we investigate whether broadening the dissemination of corporate disclosures … Read more

How Generalist and Specialist CEOs Compare in the Eyes of Independent Directors

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The benefits and drawbacks of generalist CEOs – those with the talent and skill to manage companies in various industries – have been fiercely debated in contemporary research. Some research touts generalist CEOs’ varied professional experiences and ability to launch a wide range of strategic initiatives. Other research warns of their tendency to switch jobs easily, which may mean that their motivations do not align with those of shareholders and prompt them to give short-term investments priority over above longer-term, but more beneficial, projects.

Our research contributes to the debate by exploring how independent directors view generalist and specialist CEOs. … Read more

SEC Chair Gensler Speaks at Securities Enforcement Forum

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Thank you for having me here today. As is customary, I’d like to note that my views are my own, and I’m not speaking on behalf of the Commission or SEC staff.

In 1934, in his first speech as the SEC’s first Chair, Joseph Kennedy told the National Press Club, “The Commission will make war without quarter on any who sell securities by fraud or misrepresentation.”[1]

Though much has changed since then — technology, financial products, and business models are always evolving — Kennedy’s words still ring true today.

Enforcement is one of the fundamental pillars in achieving the

… Read more

The Supreme Court and the Fraud on the Market Class Action

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The class action is indispensable to private enforcement of SEC Rule 10b-5, which prohibits fraudulent practices in the secondary securities market.  Though Rule 10b-5 is a criminal provision, courts have long inferred a private civil right of action, allowing defrauded buyers or sellers of securities to sue for damages. Many Rule 10b-5 plaintiffs, however, have “negative-value” claims: Their financial loss is not large enough to justify individual litigation. Without class litigation under Federal Rule 23, these claims would not be pursued and, to that extent, the anti-fraud policy of Section 10(b) would not be vindicated.

The U.S. Supreme Court under … Read more

SEC Chair Gensler Speaks on Market Structure

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Thank you. It’s good to be here at the annual meeting of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association — what we all know as SIFMA. John [Rogers], I look forward to your questions.

As is customary, I will note that I am not speaking on behalf of the Commission or SEC staff.

The SEC has a three-part mission: protecting investors, facilitating capital formation, and maintaining that which is in the middle: fair, orderly, and efficient markets.

We are blessed with the largest, most sophisticated, and most innovative capital markets in the world. The U.S. capital markets represent 38 percent

… Read more

Are Climate-Change Risks Reflected in Stock Prices?

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Climate-change risks can result from physical forces like wildfires, floods, or droughts or from changes in policy, the so-called transition risks created by government actions or the adoption of new technologies. A key question for academics, policy makers, firms, and investors is whether either type is being priced into securities markets.

In a new paper, Dissecting Climate Risks: Are they Reflected in Stock Prices?, we provide an answer to that question. We analyze climate news and provide separate proxies for market-wide physical risks and transition risks by performing textual analysis of Reuters climate-change news over 2000-2018.

We find that … Read more

Davis Polk Discusses Financial Action Task Force’s New Guidance for Virtual Assets

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The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the inter-governmental body that recommends international standards for anti-money laundering (AML) and countering the financing of terrorism (CFT), released an updated version of its guidance on the application of FATF’s recommendations to virtual assets and virtual asset service providers (VASPs) on October 28, 2021 (the Guidance). The Guidance builds on FATF’s efforts to apply its AML/CFT framework to the virtual assets industry. United States Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen praised the Guidance, stating, “[t]he United States welcomes the significant work by the FATF to . . . provide clear standards and guidance for the … Read more

How Technological Similarities Between Firms Affect the Market for Managers

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Last June, Benedetto Vigna became the new CEO of Ferrari NV, joining the company from semiconductor manufacturer STMicroelectronics NV. The chairman of Ferrari noted Vigna’s “deep understanding of the technologies driving much of the change in our industry,” and the subsequent press release stressed Vigna’s experience “at the heart of the semiconductor industry that is rapidly transforming the automotive sector.” The emphasis on the new CEO’s technological background was emblematic of an important yet underexplored development: the growing impact of technological expertise on the executive labor market. In a new paper, we study that development, examining whether the degree to … Read more

SEC Commissioner Speaks on the Emerging Challenge of Cybersecurity

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Good afternoon.  Thank you for the kind introduction and the opportunity to speak to the Los Angeles County Bar Association today.  Before I begin, let me issue the standard disclaimer that the views I share are my own and do not represent those of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) or my fellow Commissioners.

Today I would like to speak with you about cybersecurity, a topic that is becoming increasingly important for companies and regulators as more of our registrants’ operations have moved online.  The threats, strategies, and motives of cybercriminals can take many forms.  To name just a

… Read more

Corporate Governance Reform and the Sustainability Imperative

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In recent years, interest in alternatives to shareholder-centric corporate governance has increased significantly. It has been driven by a growing sustainability imperative – widespread recognition that business as usual, despite the short-term returns generated, could undermine social and economic stability and even threaten our long-term survival, if we fail to grapple with associated costs. We remain poorly positioned to assess options for reform, however, because prevailing theories of corporate governance limit the debate in ways that obscure many of the most consequential possibilities.

According to those views, our options amount to board versus shareholder power, and shareholder versus stakeholder purpose. … Read more

Davis Polk Discusses the FSOC Climate Report: 10 Key Takeaways for the Banking Sector

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The FSOC Climate Report views “climate-related financial risk as an emerging threat to the financial stability of the United States.” Here are our 10 key takeaways on a critical step in what will be a long and complex journey.

10 Key Takeaways

  1. U.S. financial regulators are in catch up mode
  • In a press call on the Climate Report,1 an unnamed “senior administration official” stated, “Are we behind? Of course we are. This is the starting gun going off for the U.S. regulatory system.”2
  • The Climate Report contains 35 recommendations for FSOC’s member agencies. It is a framework

… Read more

Does Uncertainty About Economic Policy Prompt Boards to Change?

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Economic policy uncertainty (EPU) measures the ambiguity that government officials introduce into fiscal, regulatory, or monetary policy (Baker, Bloom, and Davis, 2016).[1] EPU is intended to be a comprehensive measure of uncertainty, capturing ambiguity about a firm’s operating environment rather than serving simply as an early indicator of a recession or a weak economy. EPU spikes around close presidential elections, wars, the September 11 attacks, the collapse of Lehman Brothers, and the COVID-19 pandemic.

In our forthcoming paper in The Financial Review, we consider how boards of directors alter their structures to handle exogenous changes in uncertainty. EPU … Read more

Deputy U.S. Attorney General Speaks on Corporate Crime

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Thank you, Ray, for that introduction, and thank you all for having me today. I’m sorry that I am not able to be there in person but appreciate the ability to join you virtually.

I have three priorities for my time with you. First, I want to describe three new actions that the department is taking today to strengthen the way we respond to corporate crime. Second, I want to look forward and tell you about some areas we will be studying over the next months, with an eye to making additional changes to help further invigorate the department’s efforts … Read more

The Board of Directors’ Duty of Oversight and Cybersecurity

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Over the last several years, cyberattacks, including from foreign state actors, have affected thousands of companies and government agencies. Past corporate victims include Yahoo!, Home Depot, and LinkedIn. And the real world consequences of a cyberattack became vivid to the Americans public in May 2021, when the operator of the Colonial Pipeline was compromised. As a consequence of the attack, the pipeline, which provides roughly 45 percent of the gasoline and other types of fuel for the East Coast, had to be shut down for six days. The stoppage precipitated a run on gasoline along parts of the East Coast … Read more

ISS Discusses Why the Enron Scandal Still Matters to Investors After 20 Years

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In what is still regarded as the largest U.S. corporate fraud in history, the Enron scandal “celebrates” its 20th anniversary this month.

It was October 16, 2001 when Enron announced a $638 million third quarter loss, confirming a handful of whispers on Wall Street from those who were skeptical of Enron’s growth. This same day, the company first disclosed it would require a restatement of its earnings from a four-year period, 1997 to 2000, to correct accounting violations. And just six days later, on October 22nd, Enron acknowledged a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission inquiry into its accounting practices. Simultaneously, … Read more

Misconduct Synergies from Mergers

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Like many sectors in the U.S. economy, the registered investment advisory (RIA) industry has seen a recent increase in consolidation through mergers and acquisitions (M&A). The RIA industry has also experienced widespread and well-documented misconduct among employees.  For example, Egan, Matvos and Seru (2019) report that 7 percent of financial advisors have misconduct records.  Beyond the traditional cost and revenue synergies, what is the potential impact of M&A transactions on employee behavior? Mergers can increase value if they improve monitoring and disciplinary mechanisms that reduce employee wrongdoing at the combined firm.

In a new paper, we use the RIA industry … Read more

Skadden Discusses Crisis in the C-Suite: A 10-Step Plan

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It’s an all-too-common occurrence. A senior executive is accused of wrongdoing ― sexual misconduct, bullying, financial fraud, a conflict of interest or other conduct posing a compliance or integrity concern. Suddenly, directors find themselves thrust into the center of a crisis, forced to make critical decisions on a short timeline, often in the glare of a public spotlight.

It’s a time for clearheaded thinking and a game plan. Here’s a 10-point guide for directors for the first few, critical days.

1. Make a quick, preliminary assessment of the seriousness of the allegations and establish a proper investigation structure: The first … Read more

COVID to Test Bankruptcy Infrastructure

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The COVID pandemic prompted  global economic problems that many predicted would lead to an unprecedented number of corporate bankruptcies. The predictions were wrong, largely because governments responded with extraordinary measures. Congress, for example, pumped trillions of dollars into the U.S. economy in the form of both grants and loans, and the Federal Reserve kept interest rates historically low. Companies received enough money to continue operating despite their lack of cash flow, yet many were left with unprecedentedly large amounts of debt on their balance sheets.

Perhaps a robust economy will allow the companies to grow out of their debt burden. … Read more

Top Justice Department Official on Stepping Up Corporate Enforcement

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I think these events [the Global Investigations Review conference: New York] are an important opportunity for discussion of trends and really this area is one where your work, your advice to clients, changes the way that people behave. And it changes the way that people behave in a way that collectively helps to detect, deter and sanction corporate malfeasance. Ultimately, it benefits the rule of law and allows businesses to thrive. And that is in part through robust compliance and enforcement programmes.

[Conference co-chair F. Joseph Warin] referenced a little bit of returning to government on 20 January as a … Read more

SPACs: The Roles of Reputation and Disclosure When Information Is Limited

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Special purposes acquisition corporations (also known as SPACs or blank check companies) have received a lot of attention recently – and for good reason. SPACs accounted for more than half of U.S. IPOs in 2020, raising over $70 billion in total and over $300 million each on average, with their numbers increasing over 300 percent since 2019 (Goldman Sachs, 2020). Further, there were more SPAC IPOs in the first quarter of 2021 than in all of 2020.

SPACs raise capital through an IPO with the same filing and disclosure obligations as any other firm, however, they have no operations and … Read more

Sullivan & Cromwell Discusses White House Roadmap to Address Climate-Related Financial Risk

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On October 14, 2021, the White House issued a report entitled “A Roadmap to Build a Climate-resilient Economy.”[1]  The 40-page report was mandated by President Biden’s May 2021 executive order on “Climate-Related Financial Risk” (the “EO”)[2] and presents the Administration’s “roadmap for measuring, disclosing, managing and mitigating climate-related financial risk across the economy,” while “catalyzing public and private investment to seize the opportunity of a net-zero, clean energy future.”[3]  Guided by the five primary principles outlined in the report, the Administration’s government-wide climate-risk strategy involves six main work streams:

  • promoting the resilience of the U.S. financial system

… Read more

Comparing Angels and Venture Capitalists as Investors in Entrepreneurial Firms

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Angel investors (angels) and venture capital (VC) investors are both important sources of financing for entrepreneurial firms, but some critics, particularly VCs, often believe that angels are less able than VCs to perform due-diligence. However, an alternative view holds that VCs and angels are equally adept at adding value to startups. For example, a recent article by AngelList mentions that the presence of top VCs in a seed funding round of a startup does not affect the probability of its success. It is therefore important to empirically analyze and compare the value added to startups by angels and VCs. However, … Read more

SEC Chair Gensler Speaks on Fintech

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Good morning. It’s good to be here at DC Fintech Week. Thank you, Chris [Brummer], and all the organizers for inviting me here today. As is customary, I’d like to note that my remarks are my own, and I’m not speaking on behalf of the Commission or SEC staff.

Chris, before we get to your questions, I wanted to set the stage a bit about how I think about financial technology, or fintech.

Finance and technology have coexisted in a symbiotic relationship since antiquity. Think about it: Money, accounting, and ledgers, which we take for granted in some way now,

… Read more

What Do Stockholders Own? The Rise of the Trading Price Paradigm in Corporate Law

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In a spate of recent decisions, the Delaware Supreme Court has embraced a shift in its approach to stockholder appraisal rights, a development that has attracted considerable comment. The greatest impact of these decisions, however, may lie beyond appraisal and still be to come.  The decisions present a new conception of how trading prices relate to the stockholder’s entitlement, one that would alter basic ideas surrounding mergers, stock ownership, and the nature of the corporation as a vehicle for co-ownership. Delaware corporate law appears to be on the verge of a paradigm shift.

At the heart of the shift is … Read more

Debevoise Discusses the Labor Department’s Proposal on ESG and ERISA

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On October 14, 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor (the “DOL”) issued proposed regulations that represent the first step in meeting President Biden’s directive to revise or rescind the recent Trump-era rules addressing a fiduciary’s duties under Section 404 of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (“ERISA”).[1]

As a refresher, in late 2020 the Trump administration DOL issued final rules that addressed ERISA fiduciary duties with respect to (a) considering environmental, social and corporate governance (“ESG”) factors when selecting investments and investment courses of action and (b) deciding whether to vote proxies and the use … Read more

Raiders, Activists, and the Risk of Mistargeting

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For decades, Delaware and federal law governing contests for corporate control have focused on building walls to keep corporate raiders outside the gates, while doing relatively little to stop activist hedge funds. The prevailing academic view has been similar: Scholars frequently support measures that make life more difficult for raiders, while taking a more skeptical stance toward measures that target activists. In both cases, the conventional wisdom rests on an assumption that raiders pose a greater threat than activists to corporations and their stockholders.

In a recent article, Raiders, Activists, and the Risk of Mistargeting, we argue that this … Read more

SEC Commissioners Discuss Report on “Meme Stock” Episode

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Today [October18], the staff issued a report on the so called “meme stock” episode that occurred this past January.  We would like to thank the staff not only for their hard work on this report, but also for keeping the Commission fully and timely informed during the period of extreme volatility discussed in the report.  While the report includes an interesting account of the events, it does not appear that many conclusions can be drawn from the data.  This report should have been an anodyne report on the events of earlier this year and, if evident from the data, an … Read more

Management Guidance Withdrawals During the Pandemic

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The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has drastically affected the global economy and offers a unique setting to investigate firm and market behavior through periods of heightened economic uncertainty. During the pandemic, many U.S. public firms withdrew their quarterly and annual guidance on their firms’ financial outlook. According to Intelligize, 851 companies announced the withdrawals of their management guidance between March 16 and May 31, 2020.[1] In contrast, guidance withdrawals were rare prior to the pandemic. The large increase in the number of withdrawals has attracted wide attention from investors, regulators, and the media (CNBC 2020; Wall Street Journal 2020). … Read more

Skadden Discusses Government Expectations for Companies’ Data-Driven Compliance Programs

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As artificial intelligence and other data tools have proliferated, regulators and prosecutors expect companies to utilize sophisticated data analytics as part of their compliance programs. They also expect directors to take an active role, understanding and overseeing these data-driven compliance programs.

Recent lawsuits, enforcement actions and surveys suggest, however, that many companies have not kept up with the rising expectations and may not be utilizing available data to flag potential compliance problems as well as they could – perhaps not even as well as the government is already doing.

A careful reading of enforcement cases, policies and public statements shows … Read more

Stablecoins, National Currencies, CBDCs, and Banks

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The Federal Reserve is set to release a much anticipated discussion paper on the prospect of a digital U.S. dollar. According to the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), over 86 percent of central banks are investigating the possibility of a digital currency.[1] Although China began a trial for its digital yuan in four cities in 2020, the Commonwealth of the Bahamas was the first to formally issue a sovereign digital currency, known as the Sand Dollar. In our article, Sovereign Digital Currencies: Parachute Pants or the Continuing Evolution of Money, we explore the budding dynamic between cryptocurrencies, particularly … Read more

SEC Chair Gensler Speaks on Clawbacks of Erroneously Awarded Compensation

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I support today’s [October 14] action to re-open comment on the Dodd-Frank Act rule regarding clawbacks of erroneously awarded incentive-based compensation. I believe we have an opportunity to strengthen the transparency and quality of corporate financial statements as well as the accountability of corporate executives to their investors.

In today’s economy, corporate executives often are paid based on how the companies that they lead perform: things like revenue and profits of the overall business. Occasionally, however, the numbers the companies reported as the basis of that compensation aren’t accurate. In these cases, companies may have to go back and revise

… Read more

Economic Downturns and the Informativeness of Management Earnings Forecasts

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Economic downturns brought about by events such as the financial crisis and COVID-19 pandemic create substantial uncertainty for companies. While some firms endure the downturns unscathed or even thrive, others see their businesses decline drastically and their bankruptcy risk increase. The heightened uncertainty makes it especially difficult for market participants, such as investors and analysts, who rely on personal experience and public information to assess how a particular firm will perform during a downturn. In contrast, managers – as insiders – are better able to assess their firm’s future performance because they receive timely information about the firm’s operations and … Read more

Capitalism, Heal Thyself

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A paradigm shift is underway: The corporation – much reviled as a cost-externalizing, short-termist, inward-focused, politically manipulative machine – is undergoing a fundamental change. This is good news. Corporations are beginning to confront the harm they created, allowing capitalism to start healing itself.

The Rise of ESG Investing

There are three powerful factors at work. First, most large investment funds are either incorporating ESG into their investment decisions or tracking stock market indices.  Either way, there is the growing realization that bad companies or bad investments can hurt the entire portfolio. Big investors are realizing that everything is connected, and … Read more

SEC Chair Gensler Speaks About Digital Analytics in Finance

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Thank you. I’m happy to appear at SEC Speaks for the first time as Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

This event provides great continuing legal education to lawyers, accountants, and other market professionals. It also gives a platform for dozens of the talented and dedicated SEC staff and directors to share some insights about our work.

I’d like to thank the Practising Law Institute for working with our agency on this program, and my colleagues Gurbir Grewal and Renee Jones for co-chairing this event.

As is customary, I will note I’m not speaking on behalf of the Commission

… Read more

Private Equity in the Hospital Industry

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Private equity (PE) firms have in recent years been spending more money on purchasing more hospitals than ever before, with such deals accounting for a sizeable chunk of the roughly $340 billion that PE firms have put into the U.S. healthcare industry over the last decade.[1] Hospitals are economically very significant, not only because they are among the 10 largest employers in all U.S. states, but also because they provide important jobs to women and critical healthcare services to local communities.

The role of PE firms in the hospital industry is, however, controversial. Proponents claim that PE firms can … Read more

Wachtell Lipton on Dealing with Activist Hedge Funds and Other Activist Investors

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Despite a short dip at the outset of the pandemic, activism has rebounded and now continues at an ever-growing intensity.  As we have previously noted, regardless of industry, size or performance, no company should consider itself immune from activism.  No company is too large, too popular, too new or too successful.  Even companies that are respected industry leaders and have outperformed the market and their peers have been and are being attacked.  And companies that have faced one activist may be approached, in the same year or in successive years, by other activists or re-visited by the prior activist.

Although … Read more

Do Investors Pay Less Attention to Women Fund Managers?

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It is well-documented that relatively few women manage investment funds. In 2019, for example, women accounted for 37.5 percent of all lawyers, 49 percent of judges, 34.5 percent of economists, 19 percent of surgeons, and 26 percent of chief executives, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. In contrast, the percentage of funds managed by women is not only low, it has barely changed: It was 10.3 percent in 2016 and 11 percent in 2020.

While there are several explanations for the employment gap between men and women in various industries, financial economists have argued that investors in mutual funds discriminate … Read more

New SEC Enforcement Director Speaks on Promoting Market Integrity

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Thank you for that introduction and for having me here today. At the Division of Enforcement, ensuring that broker-dealers and associated individuals follow our laws and regulations is critical to our mission, so it’s only fitting that my first speech as Director is at this event.

While I just referred to it as “our mission” at the Division of Enforcement, what I’d like to talk to you about today is how we all share the responsibility to maintain market integrity and enhance public confidence in our securities markets. But first I must provide the disclaimer that my remarks today express

… Read more

The Price of Your Vote: Proxy Choice and Securities Lending

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On October 7, 2021, BlackRock announced that, beginning in 2022, institutional clients would have the opportunity to direct the voting of shares held by index funds.  Some commentators heralded this change as “a catalyst for others in [the investment management] industry” and a move that would “expand the voting choice options for investors,”[1] though others were noncommittal or downright skeptical.[2]

Did BlackRock bury the lede?  Consider the following fine print: “BlackRock will determine eligibility criteria under this program based upon . . . financial considerations, including the decision to lend securities.”[3]  In an era of rock-bottom … Read more

Sullivan & Cromwell Discusses SEC Proposal to Enhance Proxy Voting Disclosure by Investment Funds

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On September 29, 2021, the SEC issued a proposed rulemaking to enhance the information mutual funds, exchange-traded funds and other registered management investment companies (“funds”) report annually about their proxy votes.  The proposal also would require so-called “institutional investment managers” subject to section 13(f) of the Exchange Act (“managers”), which includes a broad range of investors in U.S. publicly traded equities, including some who are not “managers” in the conventional sense, to report annually regarding their voting of proxies related to executive compensation “say-on-pay” matters.  The proposed rulemaking—the first to be issued under the leadership of SEC Chairman Gary Gensler—touches … Read more

The Lowdown on Related Party Transactions by Directors or Managers in Public Companies

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Though no longer surprising, corporate scandals can still involve the unexpected. Take the recent Carlos Ghosn and Nissan saga, for example. Aside from its sensational aspects, what is striking about the scandal was Ghosn’s alleged value-diverting related party transactions (“RPTs”) (see here and here). Though not unusual on their own, RPTs can be noteworthy when they occur between a director or manager (who is not a significant or controlling shareholder) and a company with a controlling shareholder. Ghosn was the chairperson of the board of directors of Nissan, which was controlled by another automobile company, Renault SA, (see here… Read more

Davis Polk Discusses SEC Enforcement Action Against Alternative Data Provider

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An enforcement action against an alternative data provider for misrepresenting its practices offers lessons both for trading firms that use alternative data and public companies that sell it.

On September 14, 2021, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced a settlement with App Annie Inc., a privately held company, and its co-founder and former CEO and Chairman for making material misrepresentations about how App Annie obtained alternative data—information about companies or investments that is not contained within financial statements or other traditional data sources—and about its internal controls to prevent the misuse of confidential data.

App Annie provides a free performance … Read more

The Leverage Effect of Bank Disclosures

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In a new paper, The Leverage Effect of Bank Disclosures, we challenge the widespread view that disclosure requirements prompt banks to reduce their risk and leverage.  That view has prevailed since at least 2004, when the Basel Committee introduced Pillar 3 (market discipline) into the Basel II Accord, making disclosure requirements a complement to minimum capital requirements (Pillar 1) and the supervisory review process (Pillar 2) (BIS, 2004).  The committee has emphasized that disclosure leads to lower risk and leverage because “the market will require a higher return from funds invested in, or placed with, a bank that … Read more

SEC Chair Gensler Testifies Before U.S. House Committee on Financial Services

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Good afternoon, Chairwoman Waters, Ranking Member McHenry, and members of the Committee. I’m honored to appear before you today for the second time as Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission. As is customary, I will note that my views are my own, and I am not speaking on behalf of my fellow Commissioners or the staff.

We are blessed with the largest, most sophisticated, and most innovative capital markets in the world. The U.S. capital markets represent 38 percent of the globe’s capital markets.[1] This exceeds even our impact on the world’s gross domestic product, where we hold

… Read more

The Cost (and Unbenefit) of Conscious Capitalism

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We examine how shareholders and other stakeholders were affected by a quasi-exogenous shock to corporate governance that began to emerge state-by-state across the United States in the 1980s. The shock came from so-called “constituency statutes,” which allow, but do not require, directors to take into consideration stakeholders rather than just shareholders when making decisions (Orts 1992-1993). These statutes prompted an important shift in governance. Under the shareholder primacy principle, directors and managers had a fiduciary duty to make the interests of just one type of stakeholder – shareholders – a priority. Under constituency statutes, they now held the “right” to … Read more

Davis Polk Discusses Tighter China Controls Over Crypto Transactions

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The PRC appears to be further tightening controls on cryptocurrency activities.  On September 24, 2021, the People’s Bank of China (PBoC), China’s central bank, issued the Notice Regarding Further Prevention and Management of Risks Associated with Cryptocurrency Trading Hype (September 2021 Notice) jointly with nine other Chinese national government bodies[1].

The September 2021 Notice prohibits (i) overseas cryptocurrency exchanges from providing services to residents in mainland China and (ii) individuals in mainland China from working for overseas exchanges as their employees., and bars companies and individuals from providing marketing, payment, settlement services or technical support to … Read more

COVID-19, Corporate Leverage, and Financial Fragility

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The COVID-19 pandemic and efforts to combat its spread were an unprecedented shock to corporate cash flows and consequent need for external financing. How did corporate leverage respond? More important, what does the impact on leverage mean for financial stability? In the U.S., firms that were most affected by the pandemic, in terms of drop in demand, are likely facing a debt overhang problem and increased risk of default. We document these recent patterns on corporate leverage and financial fragility in our recent paper, which uses a dataset of about 3,000 U.S. public companies.

Controlling for the effects on … Read more

Kirkland & Ellis Discusses Cross-Border Transfers of Personal Data

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In the wake of the landmark judgment in Schrems II in July 2020 (which invalidated the EU-US Privacy Shield with immediate effect) (as reported by us here), the European Commission has recently adopted a number of hotly anticipated (at least in the privacy world!) decisions that re-adjust the framework for transferring personal data from the European Economic Area (the “EEA”) to countries outside the EEA (“third countries”) and the United Kingdom.

These decisions include:

  • an implementing decision which approves a new form of Standard Contractual Clauses (the “New SCCs”) for legitimising transfers of

… Read more

Attention to Dividends, Inattention to Earnings?

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Why do firms pay dividends? A well-known finance theory proposes that, in frictionless markets, dividends are irrelevant for firm valuation because an investor’s wealth does not change if the firm holds a dollar in the bank or if the firm returns a dollar to an investor through a dividend who then holds it in the bank.[1]  Despite this, roughly 40 percent of public firms pay dividends and, because they are rarely cut, dividends provide investors with a predictable stream of cash.  Research has had limited success in explaining why firms pay dividends (i.e. the benefits), but the costs, such … Read more

Sullivan & Cromwell Discusses OFAC Ransomware Advisory Update

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On September 21, 2021, the United States Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control issued an Updated Advisory on Potential Sanctions Risks for Facilitating Ransomware Payments, which provides additional guidance for companies facing ransomware attacks, or processing ransomware payments, on ways to mitigate the risks of a potential sanctions violation in connection with such payments.  The Updated Advisory incentivizes companies to proactively improve their information security systems and to promptly report ransomware attacks to U.S. government agencies by offering penalty mitigation under OFAC’s enforcement guidelines in the event a sanctions violation is later discovered.  Concurrent with the release … Read more

CSR and Firm Survival: Evidence from the Pandemic and the Climate Crisis

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The global challenges of climate change and COVID-19 have created a grim economic outlook, with companies fighting for their very survival. As a result, companies are boosting their brands, and ability to compete, with Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs. The airline industry, for example, responded to the pandemic and pressure to reduce CO2 emissions by playing a crucial role in transporting medical equipment necessary to tackle Covid-19. This step not only contributed to the well-being of society, but also improved the industry’s image and the ability of airlines to survive.

In a new paper titled “CSR and Firm Survival: … Read more

Wachtell Lipton Discusses Delaware Supreme Court’s New Demand Futility Test

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In what promises to be a landmark decision, the Delaware Supreme Court last week reframed the rules governing derivative litigation.  United Food & Commercial Workers Union v. Zuckerberg, No. 404, 2020 (Del. Sept. 23, 2021).

A Facebook stockholder sued current and former directors to recover costs the company had incurred in connection with a proposed stock reclassification.  The Court of Chancery dismissed the suit, finding that the plaintiff had failed to establish that at least half of the current directors were incapable of independently evaluating whether to pursue the suit.

The Delaware Supreme Court affirmed.  Writing for the … Read more

Kleptocracy Through Weak Governance at State-Owned Corporations

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1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), a state-owned company purportedly established for the benefit of the Malaysian people, was a vehicle for former Prime Minister Najib Razak to steal billions of dollars over close to nine years.  Called “kleptocracy at its worst” by then-U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the scandal raised the question of why Malaysian corporate law, modeled on international standards, failed to safeguard against expropriation of such magnitude.  In my new article, I explore this question, highlighting how corporate governance frameworks can be strengthened to guard against similar debacles.

The Doing Business 2020 index ranks Malaysia as second highest … Read more

SEC Chair Gensler Speaks on Proposal to Enhance Proxy Voting Disclosure

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Good morning. This is an open meeting of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on September 29, 2021. I want to welcome members of the public who are listening in.

This is my first open meeting as Chair of this remarkable agency. While there will be times when we vote on rulemakings via seriatim, I like open Commission meetings. I think open meetings can bring greater transparency to our work, and the public benefits when we can open up our deliberations to them. I hope it will be the first of many during my tenure.

Today, the Commission will consider

… Read more

Copycat Skills and Disclosure Costs

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Despite the benefits of greater transparency, public disclosures may reveal proprietary information that ultimately harms the disclosing firm by allowing competitors to view and imitate its strategies, an activity known as “copycatting.” An SEC proposal in July 2020 to increase the reporting threshold for the quarterly 13F holdings of investment companies from $100 million to $3.5 billion was partly aimed at reducing the costs from copycatting. Although prior studies have shown how proprietary costs and competition shape the decisions of disclosing firms (e.g., Leuz and Wysocki, 2016),  copycatting by peers remains relatively unexplored, mainly because such behavior is so difficult … Read more

Arnold & Porter Discusses ESG, Disclosure, and Whistleblowing

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On August 25, 2021, The Wall Street Journal reported that the SEC and the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York are investigating greenwashing allegations made by the former head of sustainability of Deutsche Bank AG’s asset-management arm, DWS Group (DWS), including allegations that DWS overstated how much it used sustainable investing criteria to manage its assets. DWS disclosed in its 2020 annual report that it invested more than half of its $900 billion in assets using a system called ESG integration, where companies are graded using ESG criteria. According to The Wall Street Journal, … Read more

Personhood, Procedure, and the Endurance of Corporate Compliance

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Despite its significant role in preventing and deterring wrongdoing, corporate compliance’s long-term prospects remain an open question. How strongly does a company’s inclination to redress wrongdoing rest on a credible threat of outside enforcement?

This is one of the questions I tackle in a new book chapter, Personhood, Procedure, and the Endurance of Corporate Compliance. The chapter, which is forthcoming in the Research Handbook on Corporate Purpose and Personhood, begins with a prediction. For a number of reasons, the government may find its constitutional access to corporate information significantly narrowed in the future. I set forth the basis for … Read more

SEC Chair Speaks Before Small Business Capital Formation and Asset Management Advisory Committees

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Thank you, Carla [Garrett]. It’s good to be with this Committee again. I’d like to thank the members for their time and willingness to represent the interests of America’s small businesses. As is customary, I’d like to note I’m not speaking on behalf of the Commission or the SEC staff.

I look forward to your readouts from today’s discussion on late-stage, private rounds of financing, as well as the pathways to our public markets.

Last time we gathered, I spoke about my father, Sam Gensler, a small business owner who never had more than a few dozen employees. He didn’t

… Read more

Why Singapore Exchange’s Embrace of SPAC Listings Is a Game Changer

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On September 2, 2021, Singapore Exchange (SGX) released the “Proposed Listing Framework for Special Purpose Acquisition Companies” that officially permits the public listing of SPACs on its mainboard. The move aims to cement Singapore’s status as Asia’s top financial center, attract lists of regional unicorn companies in the tech industry, and satisfy the appetite of local high net-worth investors for higher-risk investments.[1] On September 17, the Singapore government launched a S$1.5 billion (US$1.1 billion) investment fund backed by Temasek Holdings, the city state’s investment firm, to boost its stock markets by injecting money in high-growth companies and … Read more

Chair Lina Khan Discusses Vision and Priorities for the Federal Trade Commission

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Thank you [commissioners and staff] for the grace and patience you’ve displayed the last few months as my team and I have gotten up to speed on the agency’s work and processes. Navigating a leadership transition during a pandemic has
posed a host of challenges, and I am so grateful for the warm welcome and support from across the Commission. The past 18 months have involved significant hardship and loss for many of us, and I want to thank everyone for their hard work and dedication during these difficult times.

It’s been great to meet and speak with many of … Read more

Private Communication Between Managers and Financial Analysts: Evidence from Taxi Ride Patterns in New York City

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Firm managers spend substantial time meeting privately with analysts and investors (e.g., Thomson Reuters 2009; Soltes 2014; Brown, Call, Clement, and Sharp 2015; Bushee, Gerakos, and Lee 2018). As evidenced by a wealth of anecdotes and surveys, such private communications are now found everywhere, becoming an important source of information to sell-side analysts (Brown et al. 2015). Despite the importance of these off-line, non-public interactions, however, little is known about the timing, nature, and value of private communications, primarily due to the data limitations inherent in their private nature. This study seeks to fill this gap by constructing a unique … Read more

Mandatory Short Selling Disclosure Could Lead to Investor Herding Behavior

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Commission-free trading apps like Robinhood and coordinated action by retail investors on Twitter, WallStreetBets, and other social media have created an unprecedented force on Wall Street that specifically targets short sellers. One result has been a massive run-up in the stock prices of GameStop, AMC, and other “meme” stocks in 2021, presenting the SEC with the challenge of promoting the efficiency of capital markets – even as the prices of these meme stocks substantially deviate from firm fundamental value –  while simultaneously protecting retail investors. AMC specifically warned its investors in a June 3, 2021, filing that, “We believe that … Read more

Debevoise Discusses the Proposed Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law in Hong Kong

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The possibility of an Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law being implemented in Hong Kong has recently attracted significant attention in the region. The precise scope and ambit of the contemplated law is currently unclear, as is the proposed timing for its implementation. Whilst we await the details, it is nevertheless prudent for businesses in Hong Kong to begin to consider the potential operational and legal implications that might arise.

For these purposes, it is helpful to understand some of the background to the law and its possible provisions. As such, this briefing note summarises:

  • the implementation of the Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law in

… Read more

The Real Effects of Conflict Minerals Disclosures

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Pursuant to the Dodd-Frank Act, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted the conflict minerals disclosure (CMD) rule, which requires issuers to perform due diligence on “conflict minerals” – natural resources known to fuel conflicts in underdeveloped nations – that are used in the “functionality or production” of their products. The issuers must disclose whether their products contain tantalum, tin, tungsten, or gold (3TG) from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) or any of nine neighboring African nations (together, the covered countries). The CMD rule is designed to further the humanitarian goal of ending the extreme violence perpetrated by armed … Read more

Paul Weiss Discusses FTC Withdrawal of Vertical Merger Guidelines

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At its public meeting on September 15, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) rescinded its Vertical Merger Guidelines. These guidelines were issued jointly by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and FTC in June 2020, and served to “outline the principal analytical techniques, practices, and enforcement policies of the” DOJ and FTC “with respect to a range of transactions often described as vertical mergers and acquisitions.” The FTC also rescinded its related Commentary on Vertical Merger Enforcement issued in December 2020. The FTC did not issue replacement guidelines. Instead, the majority statement said that sometime in the future the FTC “will … Read more

SPACs and Forward-Looking Disclosure: Hype or Information?

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In 2021, 359 SPACs have raised $95 billion, surpassing the $74 billion raised by 254 SPACs in 2020. The growth in this market might mean that sophisticated investors are using a regulatory loophole to avoid IPO disclosure regulations in taking firms public and hyping their shares. It could also mean that IPO disclosure regulations are preventing small companies with scant performance history from raising money in public markets. Either way, it’s time to reconsider disclosure regulations related to IPO. With that in mind, we examine the extent of forecasting by SPACs and its relation to transaction outcomes.

SPACs are blank … Read more

SEC Chair Gensler Speaks on Alternative Reference Rates

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It’s good to be with the Alternative Reference Rates Committee to discuss the transition from the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). I’d like to thank the Committee, the New York Fed, and the Federal Reserve Board for putting this together. As is customary, I’d like to note that my views are my own, and I’m not speaking on behalf of the Commission or SEC staff.

As some of you may know, when the topic of LIBOR comes up, I sometimes find myself thinking about Hans Christian Andersen and Warren Buffett. Others of you might be wondering why I’d mention these

… Read more

Unicorniphobia

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Once upon a time, a successful startup that reached a certain maturity would “go public” – selling securities to ordinary investors, perhaps listing on a national stock exchange, and taking on the privileges and obligations of a public company under the federal securities regulations.

Times have changed. Successful startups are now able to grow quite large without public capital markets. Not so long ago, a private company valued at more than $1 billion was rare enough to warrant the nickname “unicorn.” Now, over 800 companies qualify.

Legal scholars are worried. A recent wave of academic papers makes the case that, … Read more

Weil Gotshal Discusses Boeing Decision and Board Oversight of Product Safety Risks

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The Delaware Court of Chancery’s recent decision denying a motion to dismiss in In re The Boeing Company Derivative Litigation, 2021 WL 4059934 (Del. Ch. Sept. 7, 2021), reminds directors and their counsellors of the importance of board and board committee level oversight and monitoring of “mission critical” product safety risks – in this case airplane safety. Perhaps even more important for litigation purposes, the Boeing decision also reminds directors and their counsellors of the importance of documenting these efforts in a manner that can be produced to stockholders making demands for books and records under Section 220 of … Read more

The Jobs Act Did Not Raise IPO Underpricing

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The JOBS Act was signed into law on April 5, 2012, with the objective of improving access to the public capital market for growth companies. Title I of the JOBS Act amended the Securities Act and the Exchange Act and has been widely recognized as the most significant relaxation of securities regulation in decades. Title I of the JOBS Act includes provisions designed to “de-risk” and “de-burden” the IPO process for emerging growth companies (EGCs) — issuers with pre-IPO revenues of less than $1 billion. The de-risking provisions are intended to enhance the ability to conduct a successful registered offering … Read more

Cadwalader Discusses FTC’s About Face on Debt for Hart-Scott-Rodino Purposes

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In a recent blog post, the Acting Director of the Federal Trade Commission Bureau of Competition announced the reversal of the Federal Trade Commission’s (“FTC”) decades-long position regarding the treatment of debt repayment when determining whether a premerger notification filing under the Hart-Scott-Rodino (“HSR”) Act is required. Effective September 27, 2021, companies and individuals that do not file HSR based on excluding retired debt from the transaction value may face enforcement action. Perhaps even more concerning, the FTC also cast doubt in general on whether HSR practitioners may rely on past informal guidance from the FTC’s Premerger Notification Office … Read more

Uninformative Performance Signals and Forced CEO Turnover

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Evaluating the performance of CEOs is one of the most important tasks of corporate boards of directors. When deciding whether to retain or dismiss CEOs, boards should follow the informativeness principle developed by Holmström (1979) and include all valuable performance signals regarding the quality of the CEOs. Of course, boards should also ignore all uninformative performance signals. For example, CEOs should not be rewarded or punished for, in effect, getting lucky or unlucky.

In a recent working paper, I investigate whether boards violate the informativeness principle in firing CEOs by failing to ignore outcomes that are conditionally uninformative. If … Read more

SEC Chair Gensler Testifies Before Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs

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Good morning, Chairman Brown, Ranking Member Toomey, and members of the Committee. I’m honored to appear before you today for the first time as Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission. I’d like to thank you for your support in my confirmation this spring. As is customary, I will note that my views are my own, and I am not speaking on behalf of my fellow Commissioners or the staff.

We are blessed with the largest, most sophisticated, and most innovative capital markets in the world. The U.S. capital markets represent 38 percent of the globe’s capital markets.[1] This

… Read more

The Economics of Crypto Funds

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Crypto funds are a new financial intermediary that trade in cryptographically protected digital assets, known as coins or tokens. Both the number of crypto funds and investments in crypto funds are soaring. As of the second quarter of 2021, more than 800 crypto funds are active, and their aggregate assets under management exceed $60 billion. The trend is likely to continue, as crypto funds returned an average of 98 percent  (before fees) to their investors in the first quarter of 2021.

Crypto funds differ from more traditionally-managed funds in significant ways. For example, CryptoFundResearch reports that 43 percent of all … Read more

Whistleblowing Should Be Part of President Biden’s Fight Against Corruption

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On June 3, 2021 President Joseph Biden issued a “Memorandum on Establishing the Fight Against Corruption as a Core United States National Security Interest,” (hereinafter “Anti-Corruption Memorandum” or “Memorandum”).  In issuing the Memorandum, President Biden placed fighting corruption at the “core” of his foreign policy, and explained that he wanted his administration to “lead efforts to promote good governance; bring transparency to the United States and global financial systems; prevent and combat corruption at home and abroad; and make it increasingly difficult for corrupt actors to shield their activities.”  The Memorandum set a deadline for obtaining recommendations from … Read more

Fragile Financial Regulation

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As COVID-19 rocked financial markets in March 2020, the Treasury market failed to perform its role of maintaining financial stability. Unable to respond to the surge of investors liquidating their Treasury holdings to raise cash, the secondary market ground to a virtual halt. Liquidity disappeared. Trading costs skyrocketed. And the price of Treasuries – a common benchmark for financial assets – crashed with other assets, instead of remaining stable or rising.[1]

In a new article, we argue that this breakdown in the Treasury market undermined the credibility of Treasuries as the safe asset in financial regulation, and the collateral … Read more

Wachtell Lipton Discusses Boeing’s MAX Woes in the Boardroom

By and by

In an important decision this week, the Delaware Court of Chancery permitted a Caremark duty-of-oversight claim to proceed against the directors of the Boeing Company.  Stockholder plaintiffs sued Boeing’s board, seeking to recover costs and economic losses associated with the crash of two 737 MAX jetliners.  The plaintiffs’ complaint alleged that the directors failed to monitor aircraft safety before the crashes and then failed to respond to known safety risks after the first crash.  The lawsuit seeks to hold the directors liable for the resulting loss of “billions of dollars in value.”

The court denied the directors’ motion to dismiss.  … Read more

Disclosure Procedure

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Each year, U.S. public companies spend millions of people-hours producing the securities disclosures that undergird public capital markets. But relatively little is known about how firms produce such consequential information, including whether they are spending too much, too little, or just enough on disclosure procedures. Failures of these procedures – from the inclusion of outright falsehoods to inartful drafting – can render a firm’s disclosures misleading, potentially causing investor losses. Of course, those failures can also lead to substantial costs for firms themselves in the form of securities litigation or government investigations. All equal, higher-quality procedures would be expected to … Read more

Gibson Dunn Offers 2021 Mid-Year Securities Litigation Update

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The torrid pace of new securities class action filings over the last several years slowed a bit in the first half of 2021, a period in which there have been many notable developments in securities law.  This mid-year update briefs you on major developments in federal and state securities law through June 2021:

  • In Goldman Sachs, the Supreme Court found that lower courts should hear evidence regarding the impact of alleged misstatements on the price of securities to rebut any presumption of classwide reliance at the class-certification stage, and that defendants bear the burden of persuasion on this issue.

… Read more

Consumer Protection Settlements: Theory and Policy Issues

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In a new paper, I compare private and public class action settlements. I find a dearth of theoretical law and economics literature on public class actions, so I use the private class actions literature and a pivotal case study to highlight key issues and suggest areas for future research.

Class Actions Are Different. Class actions are quite different from other lawsuits. Frequently an attorney initiates the action rather than a plaintiff, and there is no formal relationship with members of the class.  There are clear economies of scale in class actions, and the plaintiffs’ attorneys perform a socially useful … Read more

SEC Chair Gensler Speaks Before Investor Advisory Committee

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Thank you for the kind introduction. I’d like to note that my views are my own, and I’m not speaking on behalf of my fellow Commissioners or the staff.

I’m glad to participate in my second meeting of the Investor Advisory Committee. I thank the members for your time and willingness to represent the interests of American investors. Investor protection is at the heart of the SEC’s three-part mission.

Today, I’d like to discuss a few areas related to topics you’re discussing today, including the behavioral design of online trading platforms, 10b5-1 plans, and SPACs. I also look forward to

… Read more

The Impact of SEC Case Backlog on Investigations

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In recent years, the number of enforcement actions by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has declined significantly, which has led to questions about the SEC’s effectiveness. While several potential explanations exist for this decline, SEC officials have often pointed to being too busy to effectively investigate and prosecute all potential misconduct (Peikin 2019).

In a new study, we examine the impact of busyness on the SEC Division of Enforcement’s formal investigation process. In particular, we focus on four broad lines of inquiry: (1) the effect of open-case backlog on the overall likelihood of SEC investigations; (2) the effect of … Read more

Wachtell Lipton Puts a Spotlight on Boards

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The ever-evolving challenges facing corporate boards prompt periodic updates to a snapshot of what is expected from the board of directors of a public company—not just the legal rules, or the principles published by institutional investors and various corporate and investor associations, but also the aspirational “best practices” that have come to have equivalent influence on board and company behavior.  The ongoing coronavirus pandemic and resulting economic and social turbulence, combined with the wide embrace of ESG, stakeholder governance and sustainable long-term investment strategies, are propelling a decisive inflection point in the responsibilities of boards of directors.  The 2016 and … Read more

The Corporate Contract and the Internal Affairs Doctrine

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No rule of corporate law may be more foundational than the internal affairs doctrine. The doctrine provides that the internal affairs of a corporation – the “matters peculiar to the relationships among or between the corporation and its current officers, directors, and shareholders”[1] – are governed by the laws of the state in which the corporation is chartered.

Lurking within this widely accepted principle, however, is an even more foundational question: Is the internal affairs doctrine simply a choice of law rule enabling a corporation and its shareholders to choose which state’s law will govern their private business arrangement? … Read more

Arnold & Porter Discusses NY Financial Regulator’s Collection of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Data

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On July 29, 2021, the Superintendent of the New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) issued an Industry Letter (Industry Letter) announcing its new initiative to support diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts by collecting and publishing data on the diversity of corporate boards and management of its Regulated Banking Institutions and Regulated Non-Depository Financial Institutions (collectively, Regulated Institutions). The announcement of this initiative follows the establishment of a new Statewide Office of Financial Inclusion and Empowerment led by Tremaine Wright, and the initiative is similar to others that have been undertaken by federal and European bank regulators. While … Read more

The Strategic Use of Form 13F Restatements by Hedge Funds

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On July 10, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced a proposal to increase the reporting threshold for Form 13F from $100 million to $3.5 billion. Form 13F was adopted in 1975 and required managers with more than $100 million under investment to report their equity holdings on a quarterly basis. In the subsequent 45 years, the number of 13F filers increased 17-fold to reach 5,089. Not surprisingly, given the drastic increase in reporting volume, there were no systematic checks for accuracy, and there were no fines for erroneous data. Still, the plan to raise the reporting threshold faced … Read more

Debevoise & Plimpton on the Latest Round of SEC Cybersecurity Enforcement Actions

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On August 30, 2021, the SEC filed settled enforcement actions against three groups of broker-dealers and investment advisers for failing to protect confidential customer information in violation of Rule 30(a) of Regulation S-P (the “Safeguards Rule” or “Rule”). One group of the entities was also found to have violated Section 206(4) of the Advisers Act and Rule 206(4)-7, by allegedly providing misleading information in its breach notification to customers. These actions, which were announced just two weeks after the SEC imposed a $1 million civil penalty for an issuer’s allegedly misleading data breach disclosures in connection with a public company’s … Read more

How Can We Tell Whether Compliance Programs Work?

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In the United States, major financial scandals in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s resulted in federal pressure on corporations to inculcate ethical behavior in their employees. The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, Federal Sentencing Guidelines, Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the U.S. Organization Sentencing Guidelines, and similar laws either mandated or encouraged the expansion of corporate compliance programs[1] and, ultimately, led to creation of a “compliance industry.” In this new industry – just as in any emerging industry – arose specialized programs (and needs), trade associations and conferences, and a large job market to meet increased demands. One recent analysis estimated that the … Read more

Public Information and Capital Flows: Evidence from a Betting Market

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What are the consequences of increasing public information in a market of risk-seeking participants? Academics and policy makers alike are grappling with this question following the influx of speculative capital flows from individual investors in financial markets. As platforms such as Robinhood take root, the influence of gambling behavior is likely to increase and further affect the functioning of markets. The topic is also a key policy issue in light of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) plan to review new policies aimed at increasing transparency to address market developments such as the frenzy of trading in “meme” stocks like … Read more

SEC Chair Speaks Before European Parliament Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs

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Thank you, Chair Tinagli and Members of the Committee. I’m honored to appear before this Committee for the fourth time, and for the first time as Chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. As is customary, I’d like to note that my views are my own, and I’m not speaking on behalf of the Commission or the SEC staff.

The last time I appeared before this Committee, in 2012, as Chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, I was recovering from four broken ribs and a punctured lung.[1] On doctor’s orders, I wasn’t allowed to fly, so I

… Read more

The Anti-Activist Pill in The Williams Companies Stockholder Litigation: A Response to Professor Gordon

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Editor’s Note: A counter-response immediately follows this post.

In a recent post, Professor Jeffrey N. Gordon argued that the Delaware Supreme Court should upend over three decades of precedents and apply Blasius, rather than Unocal, to invalidate a corporate board’s adoption and implementation of a poison pill.[1]  I disagree.  Doing so is neither necessary, nor justified, to uphold the Chancery Court’s determination that a particularly aggressive poison pill, adopted by The Williams Companies in March 2020, was not a reasonable response to potential activist threats under Unocal.[2]  Gordon’s post also misinterprets some of the history … Read more

Corporate Vote Suppression: A Counter-Response to Eric Robinson

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I appreciate the engagement by long-term pill observer Eric Robinson with my Corporate Vote Suppression piece. I am also glad that he agrees that the pill in The Williams Companies Shareholder Litigation ought to be struck down, though he narrowly confines his ground for supporting the Delaware Chancery Court’s decision to do so.  His invitation to re-examine Moran v. Household International shows how far the anti-activist pill has strayed from its initial justification (and limitation).  Moran sustained a “flip-over pill” against the threat of a front-loaded two-tier hostile bid and countenanced a 20 percent pill trigger because it represented the … Read more

Leading Law Firms Respond to Investment Company Act Lawsuits Targeting SPAC Industry

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Editor’s Note: A response to the statement below immediately follows this post.

Recently a purported shareholder of certain special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) initiated derivative lawsuits asserting that the SPACs are investment companies under the Investment Company Act of 1940, because proceeds from their initial public offerings are invested in short-term treasuries and qualifying money market funds.

Under the provision of the 1940 Act relied upon in the lawsuits, an investment company is a company that is or holds itself out as being engaged primarily, or proposes to engage primarily, in the business of investing, reinvesting or trading in securities.… Read more

The Anti-SPAC Attack Claque

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A joint letter by 58 law firms is certainly a notable declaration, particularly when pulled together within a mere 10 days after litigation initiated by esteemed scholars. Observers might be tempted to wonder whether the motivation for such a quick and public press release is the signatories’ concern with analyzing a legal issue carefully, or with losing a large book of business and being called to account for legal advice that now stands in question.  The New York Times quotes one attorney as saying, “We really needed something powerful to take away” the “P.R. narrative.”

Upon what, precisely, have all … Read more

Supreme Risk for FINRA and Other SROs

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Most efforts to manage systemic risk tend to focus on risks arising from within financial markets, from existing regulators, or from legislative misadventures. Yet self-regulatory organizations (SROs) and the markets that depend on their steady functioning now face an underappreciated risk: that the post-Trump era U.S. Supreme Court will render a market-destabilizing decision in the foreseeable future.  Little thought has been devoted to a  response should the Supreme Court obliterate a financial market utility or void some critical SRO rule, causing capital markets to freeze up from legal uncertainty.

For many years, these types of scenarios would have been entirely … Read more

Debevoise & Plimpton Discusses Expanded Horizons for Class Action Litigation in the UK

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Mass claimant litigation is on the rise in the English courts, with multinational companies in particular facing ever-growing exposure. While large class action suits are relatively common in jurisdictions such as the United States and Australia, until recently these actions have not been a prominent feature of the United Kingdom’s legal landscape.

A series of recent decisions have significantly broadened the scope and enhanced the viability of mass claimant actions in England and Wales. On 18 August 2021, the Competition Appeal Tribunal (the “CAT”) handed down its decision in Walter Hugh Merricks CBE v Mastercard Incorporated and Others [2021] CAT … Read more

The SEC, Digital Assets, and Game Theory

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Digital assets, cryptoassets, cryptocurrencies, and security-tokens have become ubiquitous. Yet approaches to regulating them differ around the globe. In the U.S., the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC” or “Commission”) has become a uniquely active crypto-regulator. In my recent article, I examine the Commission’s approach to digital-asset markets.

The Commission has not provided a clear rule for determining whether a digital asset is a security subject to the federal securities laws or something else, like a commodity not subject to the securities statutes. Instead, the SEC has opted for the more flexible approach of enforcement actions that rely on the … Read more

The Inequities of Equitable Subordination

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Sitting as courts of equity, bankruptcy judges have embraced an exceptionalist role whereby they exercise widespread discretion in deciding cases. The doctrine of equitable subordination epitomizes bankruptcy exceptionalism and its potential for market distortion.

The doctrine originated as a remedial measure to give innocent creditors of insolvent debtors priority over creditors that engage in malicious misconduct. The Supreme Court introduced equitable subordination in a bankruptcy case in which a parent company virtually preyed upon its subsidiary, effectively driving it into insolvency. The Court ruled that the subsidiary’s preferred shareholders should have priority over the parent’s intercompany debt claims against the … Read more

Cleary Gottlieb Discusses Final Rules For UK-Listed SPACs

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On July 27, 2021, the Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) published a policy statement that includes final rules amending the UK Listing Rules, and new associated guidance, applicable to special purpose acquisition companies (“SPACs”).[1] The new rules and guidance came into force on August 10, 2021.

The final requirements are based on the FCA’s earlier consultation launched on April 30, 2021 (the “Consultation”).[2] The Consultation’s proposals focused on the presumption of suspension of trading for a UK-listed SPAC that (under the prior FCA rules) would be triggered when the SPAC announced an intended … Read more

Common Ownership: Solutions in Search of a Problem

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Mutual funds and exchange-traded funds are the cornerstone of many Americans’ investment and retirement plans.  (For simplicity, we refer to all these investments as “mutual funds.”)  Collectively, investment companies such as BlackRock, Fidelity, State Street, and Vanguard hold more than $29 trillion on behalf of more than 47 percent of all households in the United States and account for approximately 30 percent of all U.S. corporate equity.  (2020 Investment Company Factbook, 2020 Facts at a Glance)

Yet, according to some antitrust scholars, the large size that makes these mutual funds efficient investment vehicles also makes them unlawful.  Some … Read more

Wachtell Lipton Discusses Myths About Advances in Stakeholder Governance

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Two years ago, the Business Roundtable (BRT) issued a “Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation,” signed by the CEOs of 184 major U.S. corporations, that rejected shareholder primacy, declared “a fundamental commitment to all [corporate] stakeholders” and linked corporate purpose to advancing and protecting the interests not just of shareholders, but of all corporate stakeholders.  The BRT’s statement reflected rapidly growing momentum towards a more inclusive corporate governance regime and promised to accelerate stakeholder governance by committing business leaders to the interests of employees, customers, suppliers, communities and the environment.

The BRT statement elevated the topic of stakeholder capitalism … Read more

Don’t Compound the Caremark Mistake by Extending It to ESG Oversight

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Since the foundational decision in In re Caremark Intern. Inc. Derivative Litig.,[1] Delaware corporate law has required boards of directors to establish reasonable legal compliance programs. Although Caremark has been applied almost exclusively with respect to law and accounting compliance, the original Caremark decision contemplated applying the oversight duty to the corporation’s “business performance.”[2] Accordingly, Caremark claims plausibly could lie in cases in which the corporation suffered losses, not due to a failure to comply with applicable laws, but rather due to lax risk management.

In fact, several commentators have argued that Caremark liability extends—or, at least, … Read more

Sullivan & Cromwell Discusses SEC Case on Misleading Disclosure of Cybersecurity Incident

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On August 16, 2021, the SEC charged Pearson plc with misleading investors and failing to maintain adequate disclosure controls and procedures in connection with a cybersecurity incident. According to the SEC’s order, Pearson learned in March 2019 about an intrusion involving the exfiltration of millions of rows of student data, including names and some birthdates and email addresses, as well as usernames and hashed passwords for school personnel. In July 2019, a periodic filing characterized data privacy incidents as an ongoing risk factor but failed to disclose that such an incident—and one characterized by the Order as “material”—had actually occurred. … Read more

Who’s Looking Out for the Banks?

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Two decades ago, Congress repealed the Glass-Steagall Act’s Depression-era separation between commercial banking and other financial activities, paving the way for bank holding companies (BHCs) to expand into investment banking and insurance.  At the time, some critics – most notably, Professor Arthur Wilmarth – warned that financial conglomeration would encourage BHCs to exploit their depository institutions’ “federal safety net.”

Critics were correct to suspect that financial conglomerates might take advantage of their bank subsidiaries by transferring government subsidies to their nonbank affiliates. Banks enjoy many forms of government support. For example, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation guarantees bank deposits, providing … Read more

Wachtell Lipton Discusses a New Variation in SEC Insider Trading Enforcement

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Earlier last week, the SEC filed a complaint in the Northern District of California alleging insider-trading charges that may signal a more aggressive approach to enforcement under the agency’s new leadership.  In SEC v. Panuwat, the SEC charged a corporate executive who learned about an impending acquisition of his employer and then traded in the securities of an unrelated company in the same industry that he anticipated would materially increase in price when his employer’s acquisition was publicly announced.

The SEC’s complaint alleges that Mathew Panuwat was a business development executive at Medivation, Inc., a mid-cap oncology-focused biopharmaceutical company.  … Read more

Electoral Accountability in the Workplace

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Corporate codetermination, which allows workers to elect representatives to a board of directors, is in the news again. Proposals for codetermination were, for example, a prominent part of this past presidential campaign, with senators Sanders and Warren disagreeing over what portion of a board workers could choose. Multiple bills in the Senate would implement codetermination and have sparked accusations that, if enacted, they would harm American economic growth.

To test these and other claims, economists and others have looked to real-world examples of codetermination, mainly in Europe, but their empirical studies have provided little information that’s relevant to the United … Read more

Wachtell Lipton Discusses Latest SEC Enforcement Action over Cyber Breach

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In yet another important signal of the SEC’s increasing focus on how public companies respond to, and issue disclosures concerning, significant cyber breaches, the Commission announced yesterday that it had entered into a settled administrative order with Pearson plc, finding violations of the negligence-based antifraud provisions of the Securities Act and imposing a $1 million civil penalty.  Pearson neither admitted nor denied the Commission’s findings.

The Order recites that a substantial volume of personal data concerning students and school administrators was stolen by a “sophisticated threat actor” from Pearson’s academic performance assessment services that were provided to 13,000 school districts … Read more

Corporate Vote Suppression: The Anti-Activist Pill in The Williams Companies Stockholder Litigation

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The Delaware Supreme Court has before it a case that could dramatically reshape corporate governance in the United States.  The case, The Williams Companies Stockholder Litigation, addresses the legitimacy of an “anti-activist pill” whose particularly aggressive features would severely limit both an activist’s economic incentives and its capacity to organize other shareholders.  The implications reach well beyond the hedge-fund wolf packs purportedly roaming the corporate landscape. The validation of such an anti-activist pill would throttle the incipient ESG activist movement that recently illustrated its potential in successful challenges at Exxon-Mobil. It would also require the Delaware courts to come … Read more

Davis Polk Discusses FinCEN, CFTC Penalties on Cryptocurrency Derivatives Exchange

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The CFTC and FinCEN recently announced a settlement with BitMEX for $100 million to resolve an enforcement action related to the exchange’s failure to register as a futures commission merchant and failure to establish a BSA/AML compliance program.

The Order

On August 10, 2021, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced that the agencies had assessed a $100 million civil monetary penalty (CMP) against BitMEX, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency derivatives exchanges.[1] BitMEX is a peer-to-peer cryptocurrency trading platform that offers its users the ability to trade cryptocurrency derivatives, including swaps, … Read more

The Upside of Finance Committees and Why Firms Create Them

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Boards of directors at U.S. firms are increasingly using finance committees featuring financial experts to oversee complex finance-related matters. Since 2003, most U.S. public firms have been required by NYSE and NASDAQ to have audit, compensation, and governance committees. Finance committees are the most common voluntary board committees in the U.S., and many influential firms (e.g., GE, Verizon, GM, Coca Cola, etc.) use or once used finance committees to handle complex financial issues. GE established a Finance & Capital Allocation Committee in December 2017, but Robert C. Pozen argues that GE should have adopted a finance committee much earlier and … Read more

Paul Weiss Discusses SEC Focus on Crypto Enforcement

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At the Aspen Security Forum on August 2, 2021, SEC Chair Gary Gensler reaffirmed the SEC’s heightened focus on cryptocurrency. Following these comments, the SEC announced two enforcement resolutions that provide further guidance on the SEC’s approach to crypto enforcement. First, on August 6, the SEC announced a $13 million resolution against a lender and its two founders for offering unregistered securities using decentralized finance (DeFi)[1] technology.[2] And second, on August 9, the SEC announced a $10 million settlement with an online digital asset exchange for offering unregistered securities.[3]

The key takeaways are as follows:

  • The SEC

… Read more

Institutional Investors in China: Corporate Governance and Policy Channeling in the Market Within the State

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The extraordinary rise of China’s economy has made understanding Chinese corporate governance an issue of global importance. A rich literature has developed analyzing the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) role as China’s largest controlling shareholder and the impact that this has on Chinese corporate governance. However, the CCP’s role as the architect – and direct and indirect controller – of institutional investors in China has been largely overlooked in the legal literature.

This lack of focus on institutional investors in Chinese corporate governance may have made sense two decades ago. At that time, in listed Chinese companies, institutional investors’ shareholdings were … Read more

The Triumph of a Local Focus in Troubled Times

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The emphasis on the contribution of local knowledge to economic growth is a key tenet of classical economic theory. The Hayekian worldview, for example, sees the dispersion of local pockets of knowledge across the economy as the primary reason why centralized planning fails to produce optimal results. In the realm of corporate finance, these considerations emphasize the importance of firms’ reliance on local CEOs with access to social networks where information flows in a subtle and nuanced way that highly depends on specific individuals rather than formal institutions. Focusing on the local, however, comes at a cost, as a rich … Read more

Comparative Corporate Governance

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With the increasing internationalization of law and legal scholarship, comparative corporate governance has seen a burgeoning volume of research from a practical, theoretical, and empirical perspective. Practically speaking, both internationally and within individual countries, most corporate governance research deals with the interaction between board members, officers, and shareholders, primarily in large, publicly traded corporations. Much of the literature is preoccupied with reducing conflicts of interest between shareholders and management and consequently minimizing agency cost, vindicating the narrow finance perspective. Given the predominance of controlling shareholders around the globe, the literature increasingly focuses on conflicts between controlling and minority shareholders. In … Read more

Moving Beyond Mutual Funds

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As has become widely known in the past few years, the mutual-fund industry is more concentrated than ever, especially because of the growing use of index funds.  Whether this is a problem and how to respond have been the topics of considerable debate.  Commentators have laid out several possible reforms, including antitrust responses, regulations that limit the number of companies in an industry that an index fund may invest in, and the wholesale removal of some mutual funds’ power to vote.  But many of these responses would disadvantage index funds, which would be unfortunate because index funds have greatly benefited … Read more

ISS on Maximizing Good Results in Global Sustainable Finance Industry

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The global sustainable finance industry has been described as an ‘industry in transition’, according to the recently-released Global Sustainable Investment Review 2020. This is reflective not only of the growth of the industry, but also the steps taken by many regional markets in implementing industry best practice standards. The Review marks the 5th iteration of a biyearly study published by the Global Sustainable Investment Alliance (GSIA), a group of the world’s leading sustainable finance industry bodies, that reports on the size, growth and dynamics of the world’s responsible investment market.

The report found that sustainable investments account for

… Read more

Transnational Migration of Laws and Norms in Corporate Governance

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In a recent working paper, I explore the intersection of contemporary corporate governance and transnational law. Transnational law is, of course, far from a settled concept. For early theorists, it involved conduct or events that crossed national boundaries. More recent scholarship, however, has focused not on what is being regulated, but rather on how laws and norms are transmitted between supranational and local levels.

Corporate governance fits naturally within this modern conception of transnational law. Today’s corporate governance is highly fragmented and includes a complex array of public and private actors. It also embodies legal and non-legal elements, which operate … Read more

Wachtell Lipton Criticizes Putting Politics in Bank Merger Antitrust Policy

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Congressional critics of the agencies reviewing bank mergers have in recent months claimed that those agencies “rubber stamp” mergers and that merger review standards relating to antitrust are too lax.  We believe those critics are misinformed.

Bank mergers are among the most regulated in the economy.  The Federal Reserve Board (the “Fed”) has extraordinary, virtually carte-blanche power in approving or denying bank holding company mergers (as do the OCC and FDIC with respect to bank mergers), reviewable only by a federal appeals court and under a highly deferential standard of review.  Their determinations, especially with respect to … Read more

Democrats’ Gift-Wrapped Cloak of Secrecy for Wall Street

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On July 29, 2021, the House Financial Services Committee voted to advance H.R. 4618, The Short Sale Transparency and Market Fairness Act, a well-intentioned bill with a misguided provision that was likely the product of hurried drafting.  The legislation would require investors managing over $100 million in assets to provide ongoing portfolio disclosure on Form 13-F on a monthly rather than quarterly interval and extend disclosure to short positions and derivatives.

There is much to praise in H.R. 4618.  Current periodic disclosure rules require the reporting of long positions alone, which is partial at best and outright misleading at … Read more

Debevoise & Plimpton Discusses the State of the LIBOR Transition

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On March 5, 2021, LIBOR’s administrator, ICE Benchmarks Administration (the “IBA”), and LIBOR’s regulator, the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority (the “FCA”), announced that LIBOR will no longer be provided (i) for all sterling, euro, Swiss franc and Japanese yen settings, and the one-week and two-month U.S. dollar settings after December 31, 2021 and (ii) for the remaining U.S. dollar settings after June 30, 2023. On March 8, 2021, the Alternative Reference Rates Committee (“ARRC”) confirmed that the IBA and FCA announcements constitute a “Benchmark Transition Event” with respect to all U.S. dollar settings under the ARRC recommended fallback language for … Read more

The Restructuring Landscape in Emerging Markets One Year into the Pandemic

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Like advanced economies, emerging economies were buffeted by the global economic slowdown stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated lockdowns of national economies. In 2020, emerging economies (and developing countries) contracted by 2.1 percent (their steepest decline in many years), but the decline was not as severe as in advanced economies (-4.6 percent), according to the latest data from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), released in July 2021 as part of its World Economic Outlook Update.

Emerging economies and developing countries taken as a whole are expected to experience a major rebound this year, with anticipated growth reaching … Read more

Cleary Gottlieb Discusses Recent Decisions Highlighting Legal Privilege Protections

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Two recent decisions on the scope of legal privilege in the United States and Europe have once again demonstrated the importance of understanding fully the scope of legal privilege in the jurisdictions relevant to companies’ operations.

In the United States, a ruling from a Federal Court in San Francisco denied legal privilege to Elizabeth Holmes – founder of the beleaguered and now-dissolved medical device start-up Theranos Inc. (“Theranos”) – over 13 communications between Ms Holmes and the law firm Boies Schiller Flexner (“BSF”) on the basis that the privilege belonged to the company, Theranos, and not to Ms Holmes personally.… Read more

The Rule of Law and the Purpose of the Corporation

By and by

The three primary determinants of economic growth – physical capital growth, human capital growth, and technological innovation – rely on citizens’ confidence that private property rights are secure. Essential to that confidence is the rule of law.

Rule of law is an important catalyst for financial development. It allows for an effective judiciary, which is critical for the enforcement of legal contracts. Shareholders rely on the contractually created limited liability feature of equity to undertake risky, but value-enhancing, investments.  That feature is essentially a contract between shareholders and debtholders (and other stakeholders) providing that, when a company’s fortunes sour, shareholders … Read more

SEC Commissioner Peirce on Nasdaq Board Diversity Proposal

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I write in opposition to the approval of the Board Diversity Proposal (“Board Diversity Proposal” or “Proposal”) submitted for approval by the Nasdaq Stock Market LLC (“the Exchange”).[1] The Proposal attempts to expand opportunity, a goal I share,[2] but it does so in a way that improperly leverages authority that Congress has entrusted to it under the Exchange Act. Because the Exchange cannot show that its Proposal is consistent with the Exchange Act, and because the Proposal is in fact outside the scope of the Act and contrary to fundamental Constitutional principles, I cannot support its approval.[3]

… Read more

Private Equity, State Pension Plans, and the SEC

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The Securities and Exchange Commission under Chair Gary Gensler has been exploring transparency issues and other problems in the private equity industry and considering whether additional policy interventions are needed. One motivating factor is that public pension plans are the largest investors in this $5 trillion industry.

Context is important here. This is not the first time that more aggressive policy interventions have been considered to address perceived problems in private equity. As discussed in my 2020 paper, Public Investors, Private Funds, and State Law, a wave of state legislatures passed, or seriously considered passing, laws to mandate better … Read more

Debevoise & Plimpton Discusses European Commission’s Views on Sustainable Finance Disclosures Regulation

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The European Commission (the “Commission”) recently issued long-awaited answers to questions raised by the European Supervisory Authorities earlier this year on the Regulation on Sustainability-related Disclosures in the Financial Sector (“SFDR”). This Update covers answers to questions that relate to some key areas of legal uncertainty under SFDR. While the explanations are welcome, a number of answers do not provide the clarity expected.

SFDR applies to non-EU AIFMs. In line with market understanding, the Commission confirmed that, under its interpretation of SFDR, “financial market participants” that are in the scope of SFDR include non-EU alternative investment fund managers (“AIFMs”) … Read more

How Much Do Various Advisers Affect the Success of M&A?

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Companies that engage in M&A regularly employ a variety of financial, legal, and other advisers to enhance the chances of success for a deal. Though research has extensively examined the impact of financial advisers, and particularly investment bankers, on a deal’s outcome, the influence of strategy advisers such as management consulting firms (and legal advisers) has rarely been studied. Overall, based on a global questionnaire of over 100 M&A professionals, we find that strategy consultants contribute significantly to the perceived M&A success of firms.

Dataset

Between December 19, 2019 and February 28, 2020, companies worldwide were surveyed regarding their M&A … Read more

Sullivan & Cromwell Discusses SPACs in the UK

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On July 27, 2021 the FCA published a policy statement setting out its planned amendments to the Listing Rules to remove the presumption of suspension that applies to special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) when a potential acquisition target is identified (the ‘de-SPAC’ transaction), subject to certain investor protection features. These changes are geared towards making the London Stock Exchange a more attractive listing venue for SPACs and follow the publication of the UK Government’s review of the UK listing regime, as discussed in our client memo of March 3, 2021, and the subsequent consultation by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) … Read more

Short-Term Institutions, Analyst Recommendations, and Mispricing: The Role of Higher-Order Beliefs

By , and by

Discussions on the role of higher-order beliefs (investor beliefs about the beliefs of other investors) in financial markets can be traced back to Keynes’ (1936) comparison of the stock market to a beauty contest. Investors “are concerned,” he famously said, “not with what an investment is really worth to a man who buys it for keeps, but with what the market will value it at [. . .] three months or a year hence.” Interest in higher-order beliefs models continues today. An anecdotal example of the role of higher-order beliefs is the downgrade of Citigroup by analyst Meredith Whitney in … Read more

SEC Chair Gensler Discusses Crypto Regulation

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Some might wonder: What does the SEC have to do with crypto?

Further, why did an organization like the Aspen Security Forum ask me to speak about crypto’s intersection with national security?

As is customary, I’d like to note that my views are my own, and I’m not speaking on behalf of the Commission or the SEC staff.

Let me start at the beginning.

It was Halloween night 2008, in the middle of the financial crisis, when Satoshi Nakamoto published an eight-page paper[1] on a cypherpunk mailing list that’d been run by cryptographers since 1992.[2]

Nakamoto — we … Read more

National Blockchain Laws Are a Threat to Capital Markets Integration

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Since its creation in 2008, the blockchain has seemed incompatible with legal constraint. Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous inventor of Bitcoin, hailed the blockchain’s “unstructured simplicity.” Even now, apostles of distributed ledger technology (DLT) strongly resist the idea that it needs regulation, arguing that it was designed precisely to avoid centralized control.

This did not, however, stop courts and legislators around the world from becoming increasingly concerned about DLT. They are no longer focusing only on the dangers cryptocurrencies might pose to the public, such as its potential use in money-laundering, the financing of terrorism, or tax … Read more

Wachtell Lipton Discusses Mandatory Climate Change Disclosure Rules – A Preview From the SEC Chair?

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As noted in our previous memos, the SEC is considering and has sought input from investors on potential new disclosure requirements related to climate change and other sustainability issues.  Yesterday, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler made remarks that add some clarity as to what can be expected:  a combination of qualitative and quantitative climate-risk disclosures that are consistent, comparable and decision-useful to investors. Examples of potential qualitative disclosures include how the company’s leadership manages climate-related risks and opportunities, how such matters impact corporate strategy and, potentially, the use of scenario analyses.  Quantitative disclosures may include disclosure of Scope 1, 2 … Read more

Corporate Social Responsibility by Joint Agreement

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Voluntary industry-wide agreements have recently emerged as a way to promote corporate social responsibility (CSR). Competitors in industries as diverse as chocolate production, fashion design, and truck manufacturing aspire together to pay fair wages or transition to less polluting products. A growing management literature endorses the idea. Henderson (2020), for instance, calls for “industry-wide cooperation” to stop environmental degradation and economic inequality.

Joint decision-making allegedly would help reduce first-mover disadvantages that can dissuade companies from acting responsibly if it puts them at a competitive disadvantage. Firms coordinating their business decisions, however, raises antitrust concerns. To believers in the effectiveness … Read more

McMillan Discusses Key Considerations in Implementing Shareholder Votes on Climate

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As the momentum of shareholder engagement on climate-related matters continues to grow across the globe, including in Canada, these issues remain a key focus area for public companies. One of the tools that has gained prominence is the so-called “Say on Climate” vote, where shareholders vote on their company’s climate policies.

The initiative, launched by Christopher Hohn, a British fund manager, in conjunction with his investment firm The Children’s Investment Fund Management (“TCI”), was first implemented by Aena, a Spanish airports group, in 2020. Since then, several other blue-chip firms like Unilever, Glencore, and CN… Read more

A Social Enterprise Company in EU Organizational Law?

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In my recent article, A Social Enterprise Company in EU Organizational Law?, I discuss the present and future regulation of social enterprises in Europe. For the moment, social enterprises – like other “social economy” organizations – have been harnessed to act as surrogates for governments in coordinating the administration, financing, and implementation of domestic social and welfare policy.[1] To a greater or lesser extent, therefore, social enterprises are regulated domestically by individual member states of the EU (“Member States”), “with little private leeway for initiative-taking outside government policy”.[2] This means that social enterprises do not enjoy the … Read more

The Choice Between Various Freeze-Out Procedures and Its Consequences

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Over the past two decades, delisting from an exchange has become a popular choice for many public companies. Several studies attribute this trend to a number of factors, including the increased concentration of U.S. markets, which made many small and medium size public firms less viable; tightening of regulatory requirements (SOX, for example); and emergence of capital-raising alternatives for small and medium size private firms (for example, private equity funds). In sum, the net benefit of staying an exchange-listed firm has diminished, and various going private legal procedures have become popular.

The most common delisting method in the U.S. is … Read more

SEC Chair Gensler Speaks on Climate Risk and Disclosure

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It’s good to be here with the Principles for Responsible Investment. As is customary, I’d like to note my views are my own, and I’m not speaking on behalf of the Commission or the SEC’s staff.

Before we get to the main event — on climate and finance — I’d like to discuss something a lot of us are watching these days: the Olympics.

In the Olympics, there are rules by which we measure an athlete’s performance.

In gymnastics, for example, the scoring system is both quantitative and qualitative. Athletes are evaluated based on the numeric difficulty of the skills … Read more

Do Firms in Developing Countries Use Dividend Policy to Build Trust with Investors?

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How do companies based in countries with weak government institutions earn the trust of minority investors and raise capital? Where the rule of law and government enforcement cannot control corruption, insiders seem free to expropriate their company’s resources, making it essential for them to somehow assure  potential outside investors that they can be trusted. Establishing trust is especially important for growing firms that have profitable investment opportunities and are most in need of external capital.

One promising approach to building trust might be to pay a dividend – there is credibility in cash. However, paying a fixed dividend consistently, as … Read more

Arnold & Porter Discusses Criminal Antitrust Risks in Mergers & Acquisitions

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On July 9, President Biden issued an Executive Order that announced a policy of increased antitrust enforcement across many industries. The DOJ Antitrust Division and the Federal Trade Commission quickly followed with an announcement that they would jointly launch a review of merger guidelines with an eye towards a more aggressive enforcement approach.

These announcements serve as an important reminder that the risks resulting from more vigorous merger review are not limited to getting the deal through. Companies and their investors should also consider the risks posed by criminal antitrust investigations that can follow merger review. One need look no … Read more

Corporate Governance, the Depth of Altruism, and the Polyphony of Voice

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This post responds to the paper, Exit vs. Voice, by Eleonora Broccardo, Oliver Hart, and Luigi Zingales (BHZ),[1] a deep engagement with the choice between alternative means by which an “altruistic” investor can influence corporate behavior.  An “altruistic” investor is one who derives some utility from conferring a social benefit with the goal of inducing firms to change their behavior in a socially responsible way.  The two possible mechanisms are “exit” (divestment) and “voice” (shareholder voting).

BHZ follow prior work by Hart and Zingales that argues that investors can reasonably believe that firms can provide public goods at a … Read more

ISS Discusses the Largest U.S. Securities Class-Action Settlements by State

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Since its inception, ISS Securities Class Action Services LLC (“ISS SCAS”) has tracked more than 13,000 shareholder class actions across the world, including 12,000+ cases within the United States. In this report, ISS SCAS closely examines the largest securities class action settlements by U.S. state, as well as the District of Columbia.

In the first edition of this report, published in 2018, ISS SCAS identified 48 cases as the largest securities class action settlements, by total settlement amount and by state. In this updated version, ISS SCAS provides a refresh of the data, including recently settled cases that now meet … Read more

Reforming the Macroprudential Regulatory Architecture in the United States

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When the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered major economies in March 2020, it also wreaked havoc on financial markets. In the first few weeks of March, investment-grade corporate bonds lost roughly a fifth of their value, on par with the declines in equity and high-yield debt. (Haddad et al., 2020; Falato, Goldstein & Hortaçsu (forthcoming)). Contrary to the usual flight to quality, in mid-March, U.S. Treasury yields began rising and only stabilized after the Federal Reserve initiated a massive purchase program. (Vissing-Jorgensen, 2020). The distress in the Treasury market accentuated distress in other markets and liquidity challenges for firms. Nonbanks that service … Read more

Debevoise & Plimpton Discusses New Privacy Legislation in the U.S.: The Patchwork Problem Grows

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Colorado has just adopted a brand-new data privacy law and Nevada has just significantly amended its law. These changes add rights for consumers, and compliance obligations for businesses, that take the U.S. further in the direction of European-style privacy law. Colorado and Nevada join California and Virginia in adding to the growing patchwork of disparate state laws — making it that much harder for any business seeking to have a single privacy program that is compliant everywhere.

Privacy bills also recently were considered in New York, Florida, and Washington, but did not pass; these bills or others like them are … Read more

Why We Need to Verify and Unmask the Identity of Cryptocurrency Users  

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Cryptocurrencies are by now widely known as electronically generated and stored currencies that enable users to trade tokens. The tokens are exchanged anonymously through a decentralized payment system: the blockchain. To further anonymity, the parties to cryptocurrency transactions are identified by a unique string of random numbers rather than by a name or other personal information.

There is however a dark side to this anonymity. It makes it easier for criminals and terrorists to launder money and otherwise transact illegal business. For example, anonymous tokens provide terrorists with access to cash that is essential to organizing attacks without dependency on … Read more

ISS Discusses Increase in Class Action Settlements for First Half of 2021

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As the U.S. and countries around the globe attempt to control the Coronavirus pandemic, investors continue to experience meaningful recoveries from securities-related class action settlements.

In the first half of 2021 (January 1 – June 30), U.S. class action settlements totaled $2.32 billion, an increase of 11.5% over the same period in 2020. More impressively, a total of 59 cases settled during the first six months of 2021, an increase of 34.1% over the same period in 2020. The average value of settlements, however, dropped by 16.9% ($39.3 million in 2021 vs $47.3 million in 2020).

The total settlement dollars … Read more

Does Proxy Advice Allow Funds to Cast Informed Votes?

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Our examination of the votes cast by 155 mutual funds on over 6 million corporate election items during 2004-2017 led us to a surprising conclusion: We found that Institutional Shareholder Services’ (ISS) proxy advice did not lead funds to vote as if they were informed – more often than not it pushed them in the opposite direction.

The purpose of proxy advice is to allow funds to cast their votes as if they were informed, without having to actually become informed. Given the centrality of proxy advice in today’s corporate elections, the viability of shareholder democracy hinges on the advice’s … Read more

SEC Chair Gensler Speaks Before ABA Derivatives and Futures Law Committee

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Thank you for the kind introduction. It’s good to be back with the American Bar Association’s Derivatives and Futures Law Committee.

As is customary, I’d like to note that I’m not speaking on behalf of my fellow Commissioners or the SEC staff.

When I first appeared before this committee more than a decade ago, Washington was still developing the regulatory response to the 2008 financial crisis.

That crisis had many chapters, but a form of security-based swaps — credit default swaps, particularly those used in the mortgage market — played a lead role throughout the story.

International banks were using

… Read more

Capital Discrimination

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In 2014, Diane Straka, along with three male associates, formed a corporation for the purpose of providing accounting services.  Each of the founders was an officer, director, and 25 percent shareholder of the new entity.  A problem soon emerged: One of the corporation’s employees taunted Straka with sexist jokes and cartoons in the office, and her fellow shareholders refused to rein him in.  Additionally, Straka’s work was undermined by some of her co-owners, who condescended to her and countermanded her decisions.  Eventually, Straka left the firm and brought a lawsuit in New York State court alleging shareholder oppression.  Oppression is … Read more

SEC Commissioner Peirce Speaks on ESG Disclosure

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This summer was the summer of the cicadas. The dull hum of their song permeated the solitude of an evening stroll, along with the disconcerting crunch as pedestrian attempts to avoid squashing the creatures inevitably failed. Every seventeen years the beady-eyed cicadas emerge from underground—a natural wonder, perhaps therefore to be forgiven for their uncouth habits and off-putting appearance.[1] As eighteenth century farmer and self-taught naturalist Benjamin Banneker, having observed three appearances of cicadas, wrote:

[I]f their lives are Short they are merry, they begin to Sing or make a noise from the first they come out of Earth … Read more

How Does Removing the Tax Benefits of Debt Affect Firms?

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Almost all countries have historically allowed businesses to write off interest expenses against taxable income. Critics argue that the tax-favored status of debt has created a corporate debt pile-up, thereby exacerbating economic downturns. This argument, which gained more attention after the 2008 global financial crisis, implicitly assumes that the tax incentives have led to a large increase in the use of debt. However, despite extensive efforts by researchers, it is an open question whether the tax incentives are indeed a primary determinant of corporate debt policy. This is mainly because isolating the impact of interest deductions from other tax effects … Read more

Wachtell Lipton Discusses the Purpose of the Corporation

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In recent years, the concept of “corporate purpose” has been invoked as a shorthand to address a corporation’s commitment to include stakeholder governance—and with it commitments to sustainability, diversity, inclusion, social responsibility and other ESG issues—as part of a corporate strategy that achieves sustainable long-term growth and creates long-term value for the benefit of all stakeholders.

Recognizing the importance of corporate purpose in helping guide efforts to build back better following the pandemic, a distinguished group of academics at Oxford University formed the “Enactment of Purpose Initiative.”  The Initiative seeks to encourage the elemental constituencies of a corporation—directors, management, asset … Read more

How Quarterly Financial Reports Affect Employee Job Search

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Quarterly financial reports are an important way for companies to communicate with the capital market, and they clearly affect firms’ access to debt and equity capital. However, the most scarce and sought after resource for many modern, cash-rich companies is not financing but people: human capital. For example, 27 percent of U.S. employees voluntarily changed jobs in 2019, costing firms an estimated $475 billion. For perspective, the total interest expense reported by public companies was $467 billion, indicating that the cost of voluntary employee turnover is comparable to firms’ external cost of debt. Total turnover-related costs are even larger when … Read more

Paul Weiss Discusses New York Legislation to Expand Antitrust Law

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During its last legislative session, the New York Senate passed the Twenty-First Century Anti-Trust Act, which, if enacted, would have amended the Donnelly Act, New York’s antitrust statute. While the bill did not come to a vote in the Assembly before the session ended, one of the bill’s sponsors has indicated that it may be re-introduced in the next session. This is the second time in recent years that a bill was introduced to amend the Donnelly Act, and this iteration is more expansive than the prior proposal, which we discussed in a prior memorandum. If this or … Read more

Liberating the Market for Corporate Control

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In a new article, Liberating the Market for Corporate Control, we recommend that state corporate law statutes be amended to include a safe harbor for hostile bidders who make all-cash, all-shares tender offers that include a guarantee of the same or higher price if a back-end or squeeze-out merger occurs. Thus, in the face of a non-coercive hostile bid, a board cannot use takeover defenses, such as a poison pill or other statutory defense, unless specifically provided for in the corporate charter. In this way, if the board and shareholders agree, a company can always use private ordering to … Read more

Does the Strength of Investor Protection Laws Predict Capital Market Development?

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Which countries provide the strongest investor protection laws? How are such laws related to the level of capital market development and ownership concentration in public companies? In a series of influential works, La Porta, Lopez-de-Silanes, Shleifer and Vishny (1997, 1998, 1999) report that investor protection laws are largely determined by a country’s legal origin, with common law countries generally providing the strongest ones.[1] These scholars also contend that countries with the strongest such laws tend to have the most developed capital markets and the least concentrated ownership of shares in their largest public firms.  Further, the scholars advance a … Read more

Wachtell Lipton Discusses Important Supreme Court Business Cases Last Term and Next

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The Supreme Court’s now-concluded October Term 2020 marked a slow return to normalcy following the disruption of the Covid-19 pandemic.  The Court released only 56 signed opinions — just a handful more than the prior Term, and well below the Roberts Court’s pre-pandemic average pace of 74.  Meanwhile, the Court continued a recent trend of robust activity on its so-called “shadow docket,” where it often resolves thorny issues presented in an emergency posture without oral argument and without a supporting description of its reasoning.  Resolved in this way were a number of commercially significant issues implicating pandemic-related emergency measures.  But … Read more

The Role of the External Auditor in Managing Environmental, Social, and Governance Reputation Risk

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Companies are under increasing pressure to manage their reputations on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues. Some companies have lost revenue, gone bankrupt, been boycotted by customers, or otherwise suffered a decline in value because of a negative reputation on ESG. We refer to the risk of this decline in value as ESG risk. Managing ESG risk, adequately informing investors of ESG risk, and increasing financial support for sustainable activities are primary concerns of public companies and their regulators. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the European Commission recently issued public statements and taken actions toward achieving these … Read more

Skadden Offers a Scorecard on Diversity in the Corporate Boardroom

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The social and political disruptions of the past year have heightened the awareness of diversity challenges, including at public and private companies in the U.S.  In particular, the representation of women and other diverse individuals in the boardroom is of continuing relevance.  Last month, Deloitte and the Alliance for Board Diversity[1] published a comprehensive report analyzing the current makeup of boards of directors at Fortune 500 and Fortune 100 companies.[2]  That report concluded that the composition of boards at the country’s largest companies has not changed materially in the last several years.  Against this backdrop, a number of … Read more

Do Public Financial Statements Influence Venture Capital and Private Equity Financing?

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Venture capital and private equity funds are important equity investors in private companies (Hand 2005; Stromberg 2008; Kaplan and Stromberg 2009), and their investments are characterized by an extensive search process that imposes significant upfront costs for the funds (Chen et al. 2010; Teten and Farmer 2010; Gompers et al. 2016, 2019).[1] We hypothesize that private companies’ public financial statements (and the information therein) can mitigate these costs by providing a relatively less costly screening tool to identify potential targets at the pre-investment stage. In particular, public financial statements can help VC and PE funds to identify potential investment … Read more

Paul Weiss Discusses DOJ and FTC Plan to Review Merger Guidelines

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On July 9, President Biden signed a wide-ranging Executive Order on “Promoting Competition in the American Economy” which, among other things, encourages “the Attorney General and the Chair of the FTC . . . to review the horizontal and vertical merger guidelines and consider whether to revise those guidelines” in order “to address the consolidation of industry in many markets across the economy.”

In response, the Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Chair of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a statement announcing that the agencies will undertake a review … Read more

The Evolution of Environmental Discourse in Conference Calls

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Climate change disclosure ranks among the priorities of Gary Gensler, the new chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission. With the rapid reallocation of capital to green investments – characterized as a “tectonic shift” by BlackRock[1] and a “frenzy” by the Wall Street Journal[2] – concerns have arisen about whether disclosures accurately portray firms’ commitment to protecting the environment or simply represent “greenwashing.” Intensifying climate change and commensurate increases in political and financial support for positive environmental actions reinforces how climate change disclosures have become a priority.

As regulators try to determine what types and amount … Read more

Debevoise & Plimpton Discusses Impact of UK Climate-Related Financial Disclosures on Asset Managers

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The Financial Conduct Authority recently announced a proposal for a climate-related financial disclosure regime for UK asset managers, as well as life insurers and FCA-regulated pension providers. This is an important step in the United Kingdom’s implementation of a regime that is similar to the European Union’s Sustainability Finance Disclosures Regulation (“SFDR”), although the United Kingdom’s regime for the time being focuses exclusively on climate-related disclosure, whilst the European Union’s regime encompasses environmental, social and governance considerations.

As under the EU regime, the FCA focuses on disclosure, with a view to influencing investors to commit capital to companies and projects … Read more

Risk and Ambiguity in Turbulent Times

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Over the past 50 years, the financial markets have been rocked by major shocks, which have led to the introduction of financial instruments that could cope with uncertainty in general and extreme events in particular. To manage the uncertainty surrounding the financial markets, there was a need for reliable uncertainty indicators. The traditional measure of uncertainty―stock volatility―has been challenged by advanced statistical methodologies (GARCH) and derivatives-based forward-looking forecasts (VIX).  In a new paper, we discuss the history of volatility and uncertainty measures, their informativeness, and the information derived from volatility derivatives.

Volatility measures (simple historical volatility, ARCH/GARCH, and the VIX) … Read more

Hiding in Plain Sight: The Global Implications of Manager Disclosure

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Delegated asset management, and mutual funds in particular, have become the investment vehicle of choice for retail investors in capital markets worldwide. At the end of 2020, open-end mutual funds had a total of $63 trillion in assets under management globally, and almost half of all U.S. households owned shares of a mutual fund (2021 Investment Company Fact Book).

While there are clear benefits to professionally managed and diversified investment funds, the potential for agency conflicts have long been a concern. Historically, financial regulators have relied on disclosure requirements for funds as the solution to these potential conflicts. … Read more

SEC Chair Calls for Transparency on What Funds Mean by Sustainability and Diversity

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Thank you for the kind introduction. I enjoyed chatting with you a couple of weeks ago, Ed, and it’s good to meet with the whole committee for the first time.

I’m grateful for your time and willingness to give us advice on the asset management industry. I look forward to hearing the readouts from your various subcommittees on environmental, social, and governance investing; diversity and inclusion; and private investments.

I wanted to share some thoughts on these topics — in particular, on funds that hold themselves out to the public as investing with an emphasis on sustainability, and on diversity

… Read more

Why “Ramping Up” Merger Enforcement Isn’t So Easy

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Antitrust enforcement is garnering headlines everywhere—from Lina Khan taking the helm at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to the recent dismissal of the FTC’s and state attorneys’ general complaints against Facebook.  While these headlines reflect a healthy debate about the extent of regulatory enforcement, a remarkably bipartisan consensus is emerging around increased vigor in merger enforcement.  Drawing support from a broad array of constituencies—from those worried about increasing concentration of economic power to those worried about the power of big tech to limit social discourse—proponents of increased enforcement advocate for heightened merger standards.  Absent legislative changes (which certainly have been … Read more

Sullivan & Cromwell Discusses New FDIC Guidance for Specified IDIs’ Resolution Plans

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On June 25, 2021, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation published new guidance for resolution plans to be filed by insured depository institutions with $100 billion or more in total assets. The guidance establishes a three-year filing cycle for these IDIs, with filers clustered into two groups; provides details regarding the content that filers will be expected to prepare; creates greater flexibility with respect to the incorporation of content from other sources; allows affiliated filers to submit a single, combined submission; and streamlines some of the content requirements that have proven to be less relevant to the FDIC after reviewing plans … Read more

How Does Private Firm Disclosure Affect Demand for Public Firm Equity?

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In 2020, over 98 percent of the 40 million firms that disclosed detailed financial statement information worldwide were privately owned. Given their economic importance, the social value (or cost) of regulating private firm disclosures is likely significant, and how much to regulate these disclosures has been a central topic of debate among regulators. Key to informing this debate is understanding the potential spillover effects of these disclosures. While emerging research has made progress in investigating both the determinants and firm-level costs and benefits of private firm disclosures, relatively little is known about the spillover effects of these disclosures.

In a … Read more

When Forum Selection Clauses Bind Non-Signatories

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When a company signs a contract containing a forum selection clause, it is clearly bound by that provision.  But what about its parent company?  Its subsidiaries?  Its affiliates?  Are these non-parties likewise bound by the forum selection clause?

The answer to this question, as it turns out, is surprisingly complex.  On the one hand, it is a well-established principle of contract law that a party may not be bound by an agreement without its consent.  On the other hand, the courts have over the years recognized a number of doctrines – including the law of third-party beneficiaries, equitable estoppel, agency, … Read more

Do Lawyers Make Good Gatekeepers?

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Do lawyers report evidence of material violations up-the-ladder at the companies they represent, as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and related regulations require? Have general counsel properly  investigated those reports? Can we trust lawyers to be effective gatekeepers and stop corporate misconduct? The answers to these questions have long been elusive, because corporate wrongdoing is inherently sensitive and confidential, and the actions of elite research targets are hard to observe. As we approach the 20th anniversary of Sarbanes-Oxley, though, it makes sense to revisit these questions and to evaluate the impact of one of the statute’s most controversial provisions, Section 307. … Read more

Debevoise & Plimpton Discusses SEC’s Spring 2021 Agenda

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On June 11, 2021, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) released Chair Gary Gensler’s Spring 2021 regulatory agenda, which sets out the short- and long-term regulatory actions that the SEC plans to take.[1]  The agenda includes potential rulemakings specific to private funds and their investment advisers – such as amendments to the Custody Rule under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (the “Advisers Act”), amendments to Form PF and a potential new ESG rule applicable investment companies and investment advisers – and broader rules (and requests for comments on existing rules) that could affect … Read more

Entrenchment or Efficiency? CEO-to-Employee Pay Ratio and the Cost of Debt

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Critics have argued that the rule requiring companies to disclose the ratio of CEO compensation to employee pay is too expensive and time consuming, with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimating the cost to U.S. companies at more than $700 million per year. The Securities and Exchange Commission, however, has put the annual cost at about $73 million[1], and in 2015 its commissioners voted 3-2 to adopt the rule. Since then, income inequality has reached unprecedented levels, and the CEO-to-employee pay ratio has skyrocketed. According to the Economic Policy Institute, the ratio was on average 21-to-1 in 1965 but grew … Read more

SEC Chair Gensler Speaks at London City Week

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I’m honored to be speaking again at London City Week. It’s been eight years since I last spoke here. That was about benchmark interest rates and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). I may come back to that, but I’m mostly going to take the opportunity to discuss three key areas of the reform agenda at the Securities and Exchange Commission. As is customary, I’d like to note that I’m not speaking on behalf of my fellow Commissioners or the SEC staff.

The SEC was set up in the 1930s by Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the U.S. Congress to look

… Read more

The Impact of Mandatory Gender Pay Gap Disclosure in the UK

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Firms are coming under increasing pressure to close and disclose their gender pay gaps. The pressure stems from several sources, including, (i) socially conscious investors; (ii) interest groups advocating the incorporation of ESG factors into corporate decision-making and stakeholder capitalism more broadly; (iii) influential capital market intermediaries such as index providers; and (iv) regulators. For example, in recent years the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has implemented new rules requiring firms to make disclosures about human capital and, more generally, has increased its focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives within public companies.[1]

Advocates argue that there … Read more

SEC Commissioner Lee Addresses Climate, ESG, and Boards of Directors

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“You Cannot Direct the Wind, But You Can Adjust Your Sails”[1]

Good morning and thank you for the invitation to speak today at the Society for Corporate Governance 2021 National Conference.  I’m impressed with your full and informative agenda over the next few days, and I appreciate the important work you do in supporting company boards and executives.

I also appreciate your engagement in the SEC’s policymaking process, including your recent letter in response to the request for public input on climate change disclosures. In fact, we’ve received thousands of comments in response to that request, but we hardly

… Read more

The Importance of Context for Numbers in Earnings Conference Calls

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Numbers generally convey a sense of certainty – especially in accounting and finance. However, this perceived precision also makes it easier to use them in misleading ways. An extensive literature in political science and mass communications discusses how numbers, taken out of context, can bolster weak arguments. For instance, mortality rates are often cited to argue for certain foreign and public policies because they elicit strong feelings. However, mortality rates are complex estimates with large margins of error.

In financial disclosure, firms can use numbers to mislead and create a false impression of a firm’s outlook – potentially to the … Read more

Wachtell Lipton Discusses Key Corporate Governance Issues for Mid-Year 2021

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Last year, we did a mid-year edition of our annual Thoughts for Boards of Directors to highlight key issues and considerations in managing the challenging business environment and profound upheaval caused by the pandemic.  Many of these issues are still top-of-mind as the “new normal” continues to evolve, and will continue to be prominent themes in boardroom discussions. As we emerge from the pandemic, boards and management teams should continue to assess their corporate purpose, strategy, risk management procedures, and board committee structures to optimize their ability to deal with the ever-proliferating number and complexity of business risks and opportunities … Read more

The Fiduciary Principle and the Best Interests of Average Retail Investors 

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The Securities and Exchange Commission recently offered a full-throated explication of its premise that investment advisers are subject to a federally imposed fiduciary standard under the Investment Advisers Act (IAA).[1]   The premise, grounded in cryptic Supreme Court dicta, served as a basis for some to advocate that broker-dealers should be subject to a similar standard in providing personalized securities recommendations to retail investors.  This concept gained statutory traction in the Dodd-Frank Act, but was never codified.  After a long and tortuous path, however, the SEC finally adopted a compromise two years ago in lieu of mandating a strict fiduciary … Read more

Improving the SEC’s Best Execution Rule

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The nature of Best Execution responsibilities of market participants has been surprisingly complex in light of the evolution of trading technology and our regulatory system. My remarks highlight several facets: the NBBO, Regulation NMS and the trade-through rule, fees and rebates in trading and make-take pricing, rebate pricing tiers, proprietary data and pricing power by the exchanges, latency, and the geography of trading and post-trade opacity. These raise a variety of questions about the meaning of Best Execution. Perhaps the ambiguity in meaning reflects the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC’s) desire to allow Best Execution responsibilities to evolve organically, along … Read more

Arnold & Porter Discusses Congressional Antitrust Reform Targeting Big Tech

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Senior congressional antitrust leaders on both sides of the Capitol are taking steps to transition a long-running investigation into competition practices in the technology sector into legislative action. Activity kicked off on Friday, June 11, when the House Judiciary Committee’s top antitrust leaders introduced legislation responsive to the Committee’s final report and recommendations from the “Investigation In Digital Markets,” which the Committee formally adopted in a party-line vote on April 13. Following introduction, however, it became clear that House activity is not taking place in a vacuum. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), who chairs the Judiciary Committee’s Antitrust Subcommittee, revealed on … Read more

Mergers, Antitrust, and the Interplay of Entrepreneurial Activity and the Investments That Fund It

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Antitrust is in the news to an extent that it has not been for a generation. Senator Klobuchar (CALERA), senators Lee and Grassley (TEAMS Act), and, in a series of bi-partisan bills, various members of the House of Representatives all seek to rewrite antitrust law.  In particular, these bills aim to limit merger activity that is focused on acquisitions of smaller companies by larger technology companies, with the proposals ranging from presumptions of anticompetitive effects to outright prohibitions.

In a new working paper, we focus on the often overlooked implications of a change in antitrust law for venture capital, start-ups, … Read more

SEC Commissioner Asks Whether Agency Can Make Sustainable ESG Rules

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Thank you Gary [LaBranche] and the National Investor Relations Institute for inviting me to speak at your 2021 Virtual Conference. Of course, I will clarify up front that the views I express are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Commission.

I. Introduction

I appreciate the unique and important role Investor Relations (“IR”) teams play in our capital markets, serving as a primary channel for communication between companies’ leaders and groups such as analysts, as well as asset managers and investors who hold ownership positions in those companies. It seems that an increasing amount of that communication

… Read more

Stock Market Value and Deal Value in Appraisal Proceedings

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In a new article, I consider two methods of valuing public companies in appraisal proceedings under Section 262 of the Delaware General Corporation Law: the unaffected market price of the company’s shares and the deal price (less synergies, as applicable) that the acquirer pays in the merger.

Following their decisions in the DFC, Dell, and Aruba cases, the Delaware courts have strongly favored market-based methods of valuation in appraisal proceedings, and they have used both the unaffected market price and the deal price in appropriate cases. To be sure, each of these methods is reliable only when certain assumptions … Read more

Paul Weiss Discusses SEC Move to Consider ESG Disclosures

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The SEC recently closed its period of public comment on the topic of climate-change disclosures after receiving hundreds of submissions. The comments, not surprisingly, reflected a range of views regarding climate-related disclosures, including whether the SEC should or must limit itself to requiring only financially material. These comments are the latest in an ongoing discussion among SEC Commissioners and staff, lawmakers, public companies and investors about the propriety, drawbacks and potential scope of SEC rulemaking mandating climate-related information. And they come about as SEC Chair Gary Gensler begins implementing his rulemaking agenda, with the new chairman changing the leadership of … Read more

The SEC’s Regulation of ESG Disclosures

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The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has indicated that ESG disclosure regulation will be a central focus of recently confirmed SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s tenure. At the top of the agenda is climate change disclosure, and the Commission is taking steps toward broader reform. Then-Acting Chair Allison Herren Lee announced in March that the SEC will be “working toward a comprehensive ESG disclosure framework” and pursuing initiatives such as “offering guidance on human capital disclosure to encourage the reporting of specific metrics like workforce diversity, and considering more specific guidance or rule making on board diversity.” Acting Chair Lee also … Read more

ISS Discusses How ESG Investing Stands Up to the Critics

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There is a quote that is commonly misattributed to Mahatma Gandhi: “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”

At the regular get-togethers in the responsible investment industry, war stories are frequently exchanged about the amused responses to environmental, social and governance (ESG)-related pitches; the confusion; the doors shut in faces. There are plenty of examples of the first two stages of the process.

It should be heartening therefore for the responsible investment industry to discover that it has matured to the extent that some of its more common shared understandings are … Read more

ESG and the Pricing of IPOs: Does Sustainability Matter?

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In recent years, investors and others in the financial community have devoted increasing attention to the role of sustainability in financial markets and the economy at large. Sustainability is now seen as an alternative form of risk management, a way to create and preserve non-monetary value for future generations, and an area in which markets and clients expect financial institutions and corporations to take significant action. With research showing that investors consider sustainability and ESG ratings in their investment decisions, accounting and investor-relations professionals are including ESG reporting and related strategies in their financial communications, including in analyses of initial … Read more

Are Earnings Announcements More Useful than Other News for IPO Pricing?

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We study the relative usefulness of earnings announcements for valuation from the perspective of information externalities: the use of industry peer information for valuation, particularly for IPO pricing. Externalities of accounting information are one of the primary justifications for disclosure regulations. Assessment of the usefulness of earnings announcements is therefore incomplete without understanding how such information is used for peer equity valuation.

It is not obvious that earnings announcements or other information should matter more for peer share valuation. Prior research suggests that accounting information is by nature low frequency, not discretionary, and primarily backward-looking. Other information, in contrast, is … Read more

SEC Commissioners Comment on Chair Gensler’s Regulatory Agenda

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Last Friday, the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs released the Spring 2021 Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Action (“Agenda”), which includes the SEC Chair’s Agenda.[1] While there are important and timely items on the list, including rules related to transfer agents and government securities alternative trading systems, the Agenda is missing some other important rulemakings, including rules to provide clarity for digital assets, allow companies to compensate gig workers with equity, and revisit proxy plumbing. Perhaps the absence of these rules is attributable to the regrettable decision to spend our scarce resources to undo a number of

… Read more

Is the Quality of Law in the Eye of the Beholder?

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Millions of dollars are spent every year by international financial institutions and development agencies to promote legal reforms in countries around the world. Indeed, since the late 1990s, legal reforms have become a key tool for trying to promote financial and economic growth. With the adoption of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2016, the pursuit of the rule of law and “good law” has become not just a tool for development, but a goal in itself. Indeed, the rule of law is enshrined in SDG 16.

Despite the strong belief in the importance of establishing good … Read more

Cleary Gottlieb Discusses New York’s New Antitrust Law

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The New York state Senate has passed the “Twenty-First Century Antitrust Act” (S. 933) to amend its state antitrust law, radically changing the risks of doing business in New York. It ostensibly aims at so-called “Big Tech,” but applies to all businesses, even those having very little contact with New York. If enacted by the Assembly and signed into law by the Governor, the bill would have three primary implications:

  1. The bill requires merger filings in New York 60 days before closing for a huge number of relatively small deals with little connection to New York—covering many more deals than

… Read more

The Psychology of Taxing Capital Income

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Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s wealth has increased by over $100 billion since 2004, but he has paid relatively little income tax. Why? Because of the “realization rule:” Zuckerberg has not sold—and thus “realized” the gains on—the great majority of his Facebook shares, so he’s not taxed.  The realization rule creates a host of problems, including huge revenue losses and inefficient investment incentives.  Indeed, the Senate Finance Committee Chair plans to introduce a bill to repeal the rule for liquid assets for rich taxpayers. In a new article, we explore public attitudes toward taxing unsold gains and find the … Read more

Arnold & Porter Discusses Delaware Case on SPACs and Breaches of Fiduciary Duties

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The complaint filed in Franchi v. Multiplan Corp. et al. in the Chancery Court of Delaware on April 9, 2021 [1], has received a fair amount of attention because it claims breaches of fiduciary duties of a SPAC’s Board of Directors and officers with respect to a de-SPAC transaction, requiring entire fairness judicial review, and because it essentially alleges that, as a general matter, conflicts of interest and flawed processes in approving mergers with targets is endemic to the nature of SPACs. Given the prevalence of SPACs and the recent SEC statement regarding the risks of conflicts of interest in … Read more

Creating Controversy in Proxy Voting Advice

By , and by

Proxy advisory firms have emerged as major players in corporate governance by helping to address the public goods aspects of information production in corporate governance. These firms provide both a) recommendations on how to cast proxy votes and b) research reports that contain the full rationale for their recommendations, including detailed information on the operating firm’s governance. While proxy advisers’ research reports are only available to their subscribing shareholders, their recommendations are often made public in the media. Through both these public recommendations and private research reports, proxy advisers, such as ISS, have a substantial impact on voting outcomes.… Read more

SEC Chair Speaks at Meeting of Investor Advisory Committee

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Good morning. Thank you Jennifer, Heidi, and all the committee members for having me. I enjoyed meeting with members of the Executive Committee yesterday and am thrilled to meet the whole committee for the first time. I’m grateful for the members’ time and willingness to represent the interests of American investors.

I know this committee has weighed in on a variety of policies that are of great importance to the agency and to the investing public. Every day, I’m motivated by working families and how they’re served by the agency’s mission.

At the heart of our mission and our work

… Read more

Are Companies More Likely to Go Public If Their Competitors Do?

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The determinants of when and why private companies decide to go public through an initial public offering (IPO) is an important question with many policy implications. Anecdotally, one reason why firms decide to do an IPO is as a response to the actions of their rivals. For example, in the share-economy sector, Uber is said to have sped up its IPO plans after learning that Lyft would soon go public. In the cyber-security industry, Tenable reportedly sped up its IPO plans after hearing about the IPO of one of its close competitors, Zscaler. These sorts of “peer effects” among firms—where … Read more

Skadden Discusses Blowing the Whistle Under EU Law

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On October 23, 2019, the European Parliament and the European Council adopted the Whistleblower Protection Directive (Directive) to set a minimum standard for the protections EU member states must provide to whistleblowers.

For the first time, whistleblowers are protected under EU law, but implementation at the member state level has been slow. While 19 of the 27 member states had prepared draft legislation by the one-year anniversary of the Directive coming into force, no member state has implemented the new regime at a national level. A report by Transparency International in March 2021 ranked only the Czech Republic as having … Read more

Does Firm-Specific Knowledge Matter for New Audit Committee Chairs and Financial Reporting Quality?

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Overcoming the learning curve for a new situation or role at work can be difficult, especially when the situation or role requires specialized knowledge. Newly appointed audit committee chairs face a particularly steep learning curve, given that audit committees of publicly traded corporations are responsible for monitoring management’s financial reporting decisions. Doing the job effectively requires understanding the company’s culture, risks, internal controls, activities, and policies. It also requires coordinating the activities of the audit committee and obtaining information about important company decisions and practices from members of the senior management team, internal auditors, and external auditors. Corporate governance experts … Read more

SEC Chair Talks Finance and Technology in Equity Markets

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Thank you, Rich, for that kind introduction and for inviting me here today. As is customary, I’d like to note that my views are my own, and I am not speaking on behalf of my fellow Commissioners or the staff.

Since I was last with you at these conferences, Rich, I’ve been honored to hold a number of roles. Most recently I spent three and a half years at MIT, where my research and teaching centered on the intersection of finance and technology.

One thing that I’ve come to believe is that technology and finance have coexisted in a symbiotic

… Read more

Acquisition Flippers and Earnings Management

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Mergers and acquisitions are considered an integral part of a well-functioning governance system, an effective device for transferring corporate control to more capable owners and executives who can manage firm assets more efficiently and create economic value for shareholders of target firms. Acquirers, meanwhile, aim to reap financial synergies by integrating their economic resources and operations with those of targets. All this takes time, though, which is why mergers are often considered long-term corporate investments. Nonetheless, in about $3.5 trillion worth of deals, representing  23 percent of U.S. M&A activity from 1980 to 2015, targets were resold.[1] This phenomenon … Read more

Davis Polk Discusses New Standard Contractual Clauses for Moving Personal Data Outside the EU

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On June 4, 2021, the European Commission (“EC”) released a final working draft, along with its implementing decision, for a new set of Standard Contractual Clauses (“New SCCs”) for the transfer of personal data to countries outside of the European Economic Area (“EEA”) whose laws the EC has determined do not provide an adequate level of data protection.  In this memo we highlight three key developments that contracting parties should be aware of with regard to the New SCCs: (i) the timing for implementation, (ii) the new modular approach and additional use cases covered, … Read more

The Corporate Objective and Contemporary Shareholders: Is It Time for “Strategic” Corporate Governance?

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The long-standing debate about corporate purpose has stirred multiple thought-provoking articles across various disciplines. Should companies embrace shareholder value maximization or deal with the fuzziness of the goals of multiple constituencies? Instead of contributing to either side of the shareholders versus stakeholders debate, in our forthcoming article in the Journal of Management Studies, we  critically assess the challenges that contemporary shareholder practices pose for corporate governance and highlight the need for strategic corporate governance, or governance policies and practices that make a priority of the sustainable competitive advantage of the firm.

We focus on three critical assumptions about maximizing … Read more

ISS Discusses Liquidity Behavior in the S&P 500

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As a large cap index all the constituents of the S&P 500 are highly liquid. This is certainly true compared to mid-cap or small cap stocks. There are, though, high, and low rent districts within the S&P and the most liquidity is concentrated in a few stocks with the largest market capitalizations. We treat large-cap stocks differently than mid-caps when thinking about trading strategies largely because of their different liquidity profiles. Should we consider making similar distinctions within the S&P 500 itself?  Understanding variations in the liquidity characteristics of different S&P 500 stocks can help determine the optimal participation rate … Read more

Administrative Crimes: A Qualified Defense

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On his way out, President Trump sought to “protect Americans from overcriminalization” by trying to limit the criminal enforcement of regulatory offenses. Hostility to administrative crimes is growing at the Supreme Court too, in part as an outgrowth of concern about the administrative state generally, but also because the very notion that someone can be prosecuted for an offense defined by an agency and not Congress seems abhorrent to Justice Gorsuch and others. Such prosecutions regularly occur, however, not just for the SEC Rule 10b-5 violations most familiar to readers, but for hoarding personal protective equipment during the COVID-19 pandemic, … Read more

Putting the Electric Cart Before the Horse:* Inevitable Costs of a New ESG Disclosure Regime

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Thank you to Dan [Bigman] and the Corporate Board Member for inviting me to participate in today’s ESG Board Forum.  Of course, the views I express here are my own and do not necessarily represent those of my fellow Commissioners.

As the topic of this event indicates, ESG is on everyone’s mind this year.  There have been several calls for the SEC to require public issuers to include granular disclosure on ESG topics in their SEC filings.  As you have probably heard me say before,[1] I have reservations about the SEC issuing prescriptive, line-item disclosure requirements in this space,

… Read more

Aggressive Boards and CEO Turnover

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A common dilemma for people who seek advice is that good advice sometimes comes at the cost of revealing negative information about the persons seeking it. In the world of corporate decision making, a CEO who seeks the counsel of the board of directors due to a problem with, for example, a project, is also implicitly conveying that the problem arose under her stewardship. The CEO thus faces the following predicament: She can accurately communicate the problem to the board and therefore get the board’s expert advice on how to proceed, or the CEO can mislead the board by, say, … Read more

How Corporate Governance Codetermination Works in Practice

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Codetermination is a system of shared corporate governance between workers and shareholders. While such a system has long been a staple of the European business world, it has been generally ignored by U.S. corporate governance scholars. When it has made an appearance, it has largely served as a foil for shareholder primacy and an example of corporate deviance.

Over the last 15 years, however, an expanding body of empirical research on codetermination has shown surprisingly positive results about the system’s efficiency, resilience, and benefits to stakeholders. Rather than experiencing the failures predicted by the law-and-economics view of shareholder primacy, codetermination … Read more

SEC Commissioners Respond to Chairman’s Call for Review of Proxy-Voting Advice Rules

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Today [June 1], Chair Gensler announced that he has directed the SEC staff to consider whether to recommend that the Commission revisit its recent regulatory actions taken with respect to proxy voting advice businesses and its longstanding interpretation of proxy solicitation.[1] Additionally, the staff announced that it will not recommend an enforcement action against a proxy voting advice business that fails to comply with the Commission’s existing requirements for proxy voting advice.[2]

As background, last July, the Commission adopted requirements that proxy voting advice businesses, in order to rely on exemptions from the information and filing requirements of

… Read more

Law Enforcement’s Lochner

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When we contemplate the numerous challenges regulators and prosecutors face in identifying and redressing corporate and white-collar crime, constitutional criminal procedure is not usually high on the list. If anything, the constitutional doctrines that apply to the government’s interactions with corporations are decidedly pro-government; with few exceptions, they promote easy access to corporate information.

The aim of my latest article, Law Enforcement’s Lochner, is to explain why and how this ease of access may come under pressure. As I explain in the article, two distinct trends in constitutional jurisprudence threaten to undermine the government’s investigative powers: the U.S. Supreme … Read more

Cleary Gottlieb Discusses EC’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive

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On April 21, 2021, the European Commission published an ambitious new package of “sustainable finance” regulation proposals. By far the most awaited element of this release concerned the Commission’s proposal for the review of the Non-Financial Reporting Directive (“NFRD”) – soon to become the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (“CSRD”).

Under the NFRD, large “public-interest” entities (that is: large listed companies, large credit and insurance institutions, and other entities designated as such by Member States) are currently required to report certain non-financial information as part of their annual management report, largely on a comply-or-explain basis.

The CSRD … Read more

Common Ownership and the Decline of the American Worker

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American workers are more productive than ever, but they take home the same pay they did 40 years ago.  While firms have enjoyed blockbuster profits—and the U.S. gross domestic product has tripled—most American households have not shared in this increasing prosperity. As wages have stagnated, income inequality has skyrocketed. Causes like de-unionization, globalization, immigration, labor market concentration, and technology have been blamed for these trends. But an additional culprit has escaped detection: common ownership—a few powerful institutional investors controlling large stakes in most U.S. corporations. In a new article, we explain how the shift to common ownership has been … Read more

ISS Offers a COVID-19 Update: Investor Related Class Actions

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In March 2020, as the Coronavirus pandemic started to spread across the U.S. and wreak volatility in the stock market, securities class action complaints started to follow. Not surprisingly, U.S.-based litigation often follows wild stock market fluctuations as investors look to recover lost assets.

The very first COVID-19 related class action was filed on March 12, 2020 in USDC Florida (Southern) against Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings. Shareholders alleged the Miami-based company with deceptive sales tactics and misleading updates to the investor community related to its business and operations.

Since the Norwegian complaint was filed, in the last 14 months, ISS … Read more

Sullivan & Cromwell Discusses Delaware Chancery’s Rejection of MAE Claim for Covid Effects

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On April 30, 2021, then Vice Chancellor (now Chancellor) Kathaleen McCormick of the Delaware Court of Chancery issued a post-trial decision in Snow Phipps Group, LLC v. KCAKE Acquisition, Inc.[1] ordering specific performance of a private equity purchaser’s obligation to purchase a business.  The Court rejected the buyer’s argument that COVID-19 was reasonably expected to cause a sales decline that would mature into a material adverse effect (“MAE”), noting that, although the company sustained a precipitous drop in sales at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, it rebounded in the two weeks prior to termination and was not projected … Read more

SEC Commissioner Crenshaw Speaks at Small Business Forum

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Good afternoon! Thank you Martha [Miller] for the warm introduction. It is wonderful to be here. I have truly enjoyed hearing from all of the panelists over the last several days. And I am particularly interested in today’s discussion focused on smaller public companies.

You may not know this about me, but I am the proud sister of an entrepreneur. My brother started his own business before the pandemic – and he is everything from the chief executive and chief financial officer to the IT and customer service departments to the expert on intellectual property issues. I know how challenging

… Read more

Keeping Up with the Joneses and the Real Effects of S&P 500 Inclusion

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The S&P 500 index is the most visible and prestigious broad-based stock index in the U.S. Being included in it means joining an exclusive club that confers prestige on its members, as, for instance, many articles noted when Tesla was included in the index. If there is a “keeping up with the Joneses” effect for corporations, we would expect them to change their policies to fit with their peers once they joined the club. This effect has been studied for individuals but not for corporations, and S&P 500 inclusion offers a good opportunity to do so.

Joining the S&P 500 … Read more

The History and Revival of the Corporate Purpose Clause

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The corporate purpose debate is experiencing a renaissance. The contours of the modern debate are relatively well developed and typically focus on whether corporations should pursue shareholder value maximization or broader social aims. A related subject that has received much less scholarly attention, however, is the formal legal mechanism by which a corporation expresses its purpose—the purpose clause of the corporate charter.

This clause, or set of provisions, is the formal legal mechanism by which a corporation expresses its purpose in its highest constitutive document that is filed with the state. As corporations often take advantage of broad enabling statutes … Read more

SEC Commissioner Lee Speaks on Myths and Misconceptions about “Materiality”

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Thank you, Neil [Stewart] for the introduction and for having me today as you discuss the important and timely topic of climate and ESG disclosures. I very much look forward to hearing from Janine [Guillot] and Julie [Bell Lindsay]. You both bring years of experience and significant expertise to these issues, and your organizations, SASB and CAQ, have contributed significantly to the development and understanding of ESG disclosure and assurance related to such disclosures.

This is a highly sophisticated audience of accountants, auditors, attorneys, and other professionals, with deep knowledge concerning public company accounting and other disclosures – how to

… Read more

Congress and the Insider Trading Prohibition Act: “Can’t Anybody Here Play This Game?”*

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Last week, the House of Representatives passed the “Insider Trading Prohibition Act” (“ITPA”).[1] Proponents are hailing it as a triumph of bipartisan cooperation. Conversely, critics are calling it the “Insider Trading Protection Act.” This is because the bill codifies in statutory law the “personal benefit” requirement under which the tippee can only be convicted if that person paid or promised some benefit (tangible or even intangible and reputational) to the tipper. That requirement had resulted in many convictions being overturned (and even more prosecutions probably not being commenced in the first place). In the Second Circuit, this doctrine had … Read more

Paul Weiss Discusses SEC Approval of Nasdaq Rule Change Allowing Direct Listings

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On May 19, 2021, the SEC approved Nasdaq’s proposed rule change[1] to permit primary direct floor listings. This will permit companies to undertake an initial public offering and concurrent Nasdaq listing without the use of underwriters to market the shares (a “Direct Listing with a Capital Raise”). Prior to the rule change, direct listings were available only for secondary offerings by existing shareholders. The rule change allows for primary direct listings to occur alone or together with a secondary direct listing. Primary direct floor listings have been permitted on the NYSE since December 2020.

We summarize below Nasdaq’s rule … Read more

Corporate Purpose and Acquisitions

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Acquisitions are at the core of corporate strategy, enabling companies to expand and reposition themselves in the market. In 2019 alone, they accounted for nearly $3.7 trillion of economic activity. Yet acquirers famously struggle to realize value from these transactions. In a new study, we find that this challenge may be explained, at least in part, by the difficulty in maintaining a clear and compelling corporate purpose in the aftermath of the deal.

Purpose can loosely be understood as the “why” behind an organization’s existence. A recent survey of nearly 500 executives by Harvard Business Review Analytics Services revealed that … Read more

SEC Commissioner Lee Speaks on Leveraging Regulatory Cooperation

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Good afternoon. It’s a privilege to welcome you all to the annual Section 19(d) Conference. I want to start by commending NASAA and SEC staff for their work in putting this event together. And thanks to our colleagues from NASAA and FINRA for joining us and for being steadfast partners in our shared investor protection work. Our organizations work closely together throughout the year, but this conference represents an important opportunity for us to reflect on the policy and regulatory concerns that we share, and to deepen our cooperative partnership.

The issues on the agenda today are all critically important

… Read more

Corporate Venture Capital, Disclosure, and Financial Reporting

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In a new paper, we examine firms’ corporate venture capital (CVC) investing from a disclosure and financial reporting perspective. CVC refers to minority equity investments made by established, publicly-listed firms in privately-held entrepreneurial ventures. CVC investing differs from pure venture capital investing in that strategic gains rather than financial returns are the primary consideration. The investing firm gets access to new sources of innovation and potential acquisition targets, and the startup venture benefits from the established firm’s capital, expertise, and connections. While established firms in the technology, industrial, and healthcare sectors such as Google, General Electric, and Johnson & Johnson … Read more

SEC Chair Gensler Speaks at FINRA Annual Conference

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Good afternoon. I want to thank the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and Robert [Cook] for hosting me as part of this week’s conference.[1] I’ve known Robert since he joined the SEC to lead the Trading and Markets Division and I was at the CFTC, when we first worked together on what was called the “Flash Crash” in May of 2010.

As a self-regulatory agency, FINRA plays a role in protecting investors — writing and enforcing rules for registered brokers and broker-dealers, examining firms, educating investors, and more. I look forward to working with the whole team and Robert on

… Read more

Mitigating Gig and Remote Worker Misconduct

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Jobs in which workers are physically distant from their employers are increasingly prevalent, due to both a surge in the gig economy and the widespread increase in remote work, which was on the rise even before the pandemic. This development has created unique employee-governance challenges.

Our forthcoming article, “Mitigating Gig and Remote Worker Misconduct: Evidence from a Real Effort Experiment” posits that employee misconduct will likely be prevalent in gig and remote work settings because the physical separation between employers and workers exacerbates the “principal-agent” problem in two important ways. First, gig and remote workers are likely to feel less … Read more

SPAC vs. IPO: Is There a Difference in Executive Compensation?

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An emerging company in need of capital to grow has an important decision to make: how and when to raise the necessary capital.

The traditional way of taking an emerging company public in an initial public offering, or IPO, is being displaced by a new method involving a SPAC, or special purpose acquisition company. A SPAC is a “blank check” shell corporation “created specifically to pool funds in order to finance a merger or acquisition opportunity within a set timeframe,” according to the Securities and Exchange Commission. “The opportunity usually has yet to be identified”.

The SPAC is typically led … Read more

Is Everything Securities Fraud?

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Securities litigation is almost inevitable for any public company.  Often, investors sue because the firm’s managers engaged in fraud that directly harmed the shareholders – say, by doctoring the firm’s financials or lying about known business prospects.  However, shareholders also sue their companies when those companies engage in conduct that more directly harms a different set of constituents.  When a pharmaceutical company sells dangerously contaminated drugs, a faulty car battery bursts into flames, or an oil rig explodes, it’s difficult to say that the direct victims of the misconduct are the companies’ shareholders.  Yet shareholders commonly base lawsuits under the … Read more

Cahill Gordon Discusses SEC Rules Under Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act

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The Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) has adopted interim final rules[1] to implement the Congressionally-mandated document submision and disclosure requirements of the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act (the “HFCA Act”), which became effective on May 5, 2021.

The HFCA Act was enacted to address certain concerns over registrants listed on U.S. securities exchanges whose audit reports are issued by registered public accounting firms with offices in foreign locations in which local authorities may prohibit complete inspection by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (the “PCAOB”).  In particular, the HFCA Act is concerned with influence by Chinese authorities over … Read more

Venezuela: Prospects for Restructuring Sovereign Debt and Rebuilding a National Economy

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Venezuela is facing not only a grave humanitarian crisis, but an acute financial and economic one as well–including a massive debt burden.  Moreover, Venezuela is in the throes of an extended political stalemate between the forces aligned with the regime of Nicolás Maduro and those led by opposition leader and so-called “interim” Venezuelan president Juan Guaidó.  However, as long as the Maduro regime remains in power, it seems unlikely that Venezuela will be able to negotiate a restructuring deal with its foreign creditors, due in no small part to certain restrictions provided for in the current U.S. sanctions regime vis-à-vis … Read more

ISS Revisits the Performance of ESG Screened Indexes During the Pandemic

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Nearly a year ago, we analyzed the outperformance of ESG strategies during the initial stage of the COVID-19 Pandemic. As of May 2020, we found that ESG indexes based on ISS ESG data had outperformed by 1.3% to 2.8%, with lower volatility than their benchmark over the first five months of 2020. In this article we revisit those findings to examine whether the ESG outperformance has held up as global stock markets have strongly recovered.

We focus here on the Solactive ISS ESG Screened Series, an index family which integrates ISS ESG’s most frequently requested ESG filters including:

  • a

… Read more

Investor Relations, Activism, and Engagement

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Activist investors once limited their targets to mostly smaller, less known firms. Now, though, they increasingly target large, household names like Procter & Gamble, DuPont, and Berkshire Hathaway, aiming to influence company actions, replace management, or even purchase the company.

This increase in activism has been facilitated by changes that increase activist shareholders’ ability to exert influence and shape the views of other shareholders.[1] The resulting struggle between managers and activists to influence shareholder opinion about the firm has led to calls for more engagement between managers and investors. For example, in a letter to CEOs, BlackRock CEO … Read more

Mind the (Data) Gaps: SEC Commissioner Speaks at Conference on Financial Market Regulation

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Before I begin my remarks, I need to mention that the views that I express today are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Commission or its staff.

To start, I want to note that I am thankful for the work that economists do inside and outside the SEC to help us understand the markets we regulate. It’s vital in terms of providing insight and analysis to help shape our regulatory approach. As those of you who have spoken to me may have noticed, I am not an economist. But I do have an economist’s love

… Read more

COVID-19 Isolation, Managerial Sentiment, and Corporate Policies

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Global efforts to limit the spread of Covid-19 have prompted the widespread adoption of restrictions on people’s ability to go out and about and, as result, have thrust public mental health issues into the spotlight.  Mandatory work-from-home arrangements, for example, have created emotional distress for many homebound employees working alone. The U.S. Census Bureau’s December 2020 Household Pulse Survey found that 42 percent of respondents reported symptoms of anxiety or depression, an 11 percent increase over the previous year’s results. The American Psychological Association found that nearly eight in 10 adults claimed that the pandemic is a significant source of … Read more

The Real Merger Gains: Correcting for Partial Anticipation

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Previous takeover studies document a puzzlingly skewed division of gains between target and acquirer firms. The targets gain a hefty bid premium, while acquirers’ returns are insignificant or slightly negative around bid announcement dates. Thus, the question arises, Why do acquirer managers undertake low-benefit or even value-destroying mergers? In a new paper, I reassess the notion that acquirers aim to create synergies and maximize value through mergers and acquisitions (M&A).

Prior studies typically assume that mergers are unpredictable during the pre-offer period. However, a growing literature documents that private information from merger negotiations leaks to the market, suggesting that some … Read more

Skadden Discusses SEC and ESG Disclosure

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During his Senate confirmation hearing for chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Gary Gensler said he would adhere to the U.S. Supreme Court’s view of materiality: Information is material (and should therefore be disclosed) if there is a substantial likelihood that a reasonable investor would consider the information important in making an investment or voting decision. He then noted that many shareholders are calling for disclosures on climate risk, human capital and political spending, suggesting that they may be material.

Since the start of the Biden administration, then-Acting Chair Allison Herren Lee and the SEC staff have clearly … Read more

Who Will Regulate Central Bank Digital Currencies?

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Though a bit provocative, this headline raises a liminal question on the various projects of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDBs): Which  governance will apply to them? Or as Juvenal, the poet in ancient Rome, famously asked, “Who will guard the guards themselves?”[1]

What Is a Central Bank Digital Currency?

A CBDC is the digital form of a country’s fiat currency and, like traditional currency, represents a claim on that country’s government. Instead of printing money, the central bank issues electronic coins backed by the full faith and credit of the government.[2] As a result, for the first time, … Read more

Davis Polk Discusses Who Can Have a Federal Reserve Master Account

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The proposed guidelines that the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (the Board) recently issued for public notice and comment mark the latest development on one of the most important policy questions for the U.S. financial system today: who is entitled to have a master account?  Having an account at one of the twelve Federal Reserve Banks (a master account) is necessary for an institution to have direct access to the Federal Reserve’s payment systems and to settle transactions with other participants in central bank money.[1]  “With technology driving rapid change in the payments landscape,” … Read more