ISS Discusses Trends in 2019 U.S. Executive Compensation

By John Roe and Kosmas Papadopoulos April 16, 2019 by renholding

As we enter the peak of proxy season, we review executive compensation trends in the U.S. based executive pay disclosures so far this year. Our key findings include:

Compensation disclosures so far suggest continued increases in CEO pay across all

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The Impact of Banking Regulation on Voluntary Disclosures

By Anya Kleymenova and Li Zhang April 3, 2019 by renholding

Firms disclose a variety of information to the public, some because they are required to do so by law or regulations, and others voluntarily because they want, for example, to signal their creditworthiness to potential investors. The level and effectiveness …

Securities Disclosure As Soundbite: The Case of CEO Pay Ratios

By Steven A. Bank and George S. Georgiev February 11, 2019 by renholding

Since 2018, U.S. public companies have had to calculate and report a new, unconventional statistic—a CEO pay ratio—which links CEO pay to the pay of rank-and-file workers. Based on a last-minute addition to the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010, the disclosure …

Why Dismantling Nonbank SIFI Regulation Is a Serious Mistake

By Jeremy C. Kress, Patricia A. McCoy and Daniel Schwarcz December 19, 2018 by renholding

The unnerving events of fall 2008 removed all doubt that investment banks and other nonbank financial firms can propagate systemic risk and endanger the world’s financial system. In response, Congress instituted a robust system for regulating systemic risk posed by …

Debevoise Discusses SEC’s Record Year for Whistleblowers

By Mary Jo White, Andrew J. Ceresney, Arian M. June, Jonathan R. Tuttle and Ada Fernandez Johnson December 4, 2018 by renholding

On November 15, 2018, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (the “SEC” or the “Commission”) Office of the Whistleblower (the “OWB”) provided its annual report to Congress describing the status of the whistleblower program and touting a “record-breaking year” for …

The Unwise and Illegal Deregulation of Prudential Financial

By Jeremy C. Kress November 26, 2018 by renholding

On October 18, federal regulators released the largest U.S. insurance group, Prudential Financial, Inc., from enhanced government oversight. Prudential had been the last remaining systemically important financial institution (SIFI)—a designation Congress created in the Dodd-Frank Act for nonbank financial companies …

Can Companies and M&A Law in Europe Adapt to the Market for Corporate Control?

By Matteo Gatti October 29, 2018 by renholding

Takeover regimes in Europe have been under persistent scrutiny by the public, politicians, and market participants. Sometimes, that is just the nature of the game: Takeovers create winners and losers, and the latter (with the help of their champions and …

The Underappreciated Dilemmas of Overlapping Financial Regulations

By Matthew C. Turk October 25, 2018 by renholding

Calls to dismantle the legal framework that was developed in response to the financial crisis have begun to multiply and gain momentum. Pursuant to a Trump Administration executive order, the Treasury Department has released a series of reports that undertakes …

SEC Commissioner Jackson on Re-Opening Comment Period for Security-Based Swap Dealer Rules

By Robert J. Jackson, Jr. October 12, 2018 by renholding

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you to my colleague Commissioner Peirce and the terrific Staff in the Division of Trading and Markets for all of the hard work that so clearly went into this proposal. I’m especially grateful to

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Split Derivatives: Inside the World’s Most Misunderstood Contract

By Dan Awrey October 1, 2018 by renholding

Derivatives are the “bad boys” of modern finance: exciting, dangerous, and fundamentally misunderstood. Their supporters defend them as important instruments for measuring, managing, and transferring risk, enhancing both the efficiency and resilience of the financial system. Their critics label them …

How Private Equity Enhances the Market for Corporate Control and Capitalism

By Edward Peter Stringham and Jack Vogel September 13, 2018 by renholding

In this age of firebrand political rhetoric and sniping from the right and the left, Wall Street has taken more than its fair share of criticism. One of the most significantly misplaced criticisms, however, derives from a gross misunderstanding of …

A Retrospective on the Demise of Long-Term Capital Management

By Paul L. Lee September 10, 2018 by renholding

The 10th anniversary of the harrowing financial events of September 2008 is nearly upon us. The anniversary will undoubtedly be marked by various retrospectives analyzing those events. For a longer-term perspective, though, it may be helpful to consider another anniversary …

Corporate Governance Reform in Post-Crisis Financial Firms: Two Fundamental Tensions

By Christopher M. Bruner September 5, 2018 by renholding

The manner in which financial firms are governed directly affects the stability and sustainability of both the financial sector and the “real” economy, as the financial crisis and associated regulatory reform efforts have tragically demonstrated. However, two fundamental tensions continue …

Why Firms Disclose a Supplemental CEO-to-Median Worker Pay Ratio

By Sun Moon Jung, Natalie Kyung Won Kim, Han Seong Ryu and Jae Yong Shin September 5, 2018 by renholding

Pay disparity between executives and employees has been criticized as evidence of corporate greed. It can also create perceptions of unfairness and dissatisfaction among employees, weakening their commitment and performance. To provide more information about pay disparity, the U.S. Congress …

How Vulnerable Are U.S. Banks to Commercial Real Estate?

By Jonathon Adams-Kane August 24, 2018 by renholding

Commercial real estate (CRE) lending is a risky activity that still dominates the business model of many modestly capitalized small and medium-sized banks. Bank supervisory and regulatory reforms recently enacted have reflected some of the lessons from the Great Financial …

Measuring Regulation Based on Industry Response

By Michael Simkovic August 9, 2018 by renholding

Despite the central role of government regulation in academic inquiry and policy evaluation, there is no universally accepted way to measure how changes in regulatory complexity and intensity affect private industry at different times. This lack of a standard methodological …

How External Whistleblower Rewards Affect Internal Reporting

By Masaki Iwasaki July 6, 2018 by renholding

Does paying employees for blowing the whistle on corporate crime to regulators discourage internal reporting and undermine corporate governance? The answer is not as simple as it might seem. My research shows that, as the amount of reward increases, the …

SEC Proposes Changes to Whistleblower Rule

By Securities and Exchange Commission June 29, 2018 by renholding

The Securities and Exchange Commission voted on June 28, 2018, to propose amendments to the rules governing its whistleblower program. The whistleblower program was established in 2010 to incentivize individuals to report high-quality tips to the Commission and help the

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SEC’s Jackson Calls for Curbing Executives’ Ability to Cash Out on Buybacks

By Robert J. Jackson, Jr. June 12, 2018 by renholding

Thank you so much, Neera [Tanden], for that very kind introduction. I’ve long admired all that you and everyone here at the Center for American Progress do to promote a progressive economic agenda. And I share your commitment to making

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Financial Enforcement Actions and the Role of Whistleblowers

By Andrew C. Call, Gerald S. Martin, Nathan Y. Sharp and Jaron H. Wilde June 6, 2018 by renholding

In our recent paper, we investigate the association between employee whistleblowers and outcomes of financial misrepresentation enforcement actions by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Department of Justice (DOJ). We examine SEC and DOJ enforcement actions for financial misrepresentation …

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