The Conflict Between BlackRock’s Shareholder Activism and ERISA’s Fiduciary Duties

By Bernard S. Sharfman September 29, 2020 by renholding

BlackRock, an investment adviser that primarily markets and manages index funds to millions of passive investors around the globe, has become a leading shareholder activist. Based on the extremely large amount of assets it has under management ($7.3 trillion), its …

Exchange-Traded Confusion: How Industry Practices Undermine Product Comparisons in Exchange Traded Funds

By Ryan Clements September 22, 2020 by renholding

Despite their popularity[1] and growing importance in U.S. capital markets,[2] exchange traded funds (ETFs) are incredibly difficult (at times even impossible) to accurately compare side-by-side. In a new article, I show how a variety of discretionary industry …

The Politics of Institutional Shareholder Voting: Transparency Before Reform

By Isabel Verkes August 13, 2020 by renholding

On July 22, the SEC finalized a sweeping rule change to enhance the transparency around the role of proxy advisers. This follows an earlier proposal to reform the process for including shareholder proposals in a company’s proxy statement.^[1] These …

Are ETFs Making Some Asset Managers Too Interconnected to Fail?

By Ryan Clements April 7, 2020 by renholding

Exchange traded funds (ETFs) sit at the center of the COVID-19 crisis selloff.[1] This isn’t surprising, since ETFs are a low-cost highly liquid vehicle for trading entire sectors, asset classes, and even global economies. Yet the use of ETFs …

How the SEC Modernized Regulation of Exchange-Traded Funds and the Task Ahead

By Georges Ugeux February 6, 2020 by renholding

On September 26, 2019, the SEC released the much-anticipated new rule and form amendments designed to modernize the regulation of Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs).[1] Rule 6c-11 under the Investment Company Act permits ETFs that satisfy certain conditions to operate without …

SEC’s Director of Investment Management Division Talks Securities Law Developments

By Dalia Blass December 4, 2019 by renholding

Good Morning. Thank you Susan [Olson], and thank you all for the opportunity to come back and update you on the Division’s work.[1]

I recently came across a September Compliance Minute Podcast, titled: Where Have you Gone, Dalia Blass?

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SEC Commissioners Peirce and Roisman on Proposed Rules for Funds’ Use of Derivatives

By Hester M. Peirce and Elad L. Roisman November 27, 2019 by renholding

We thank the staff of the Division of Investment Management (the “Division”) for undertaking the challenging task of devising and presenting for Commission vote a proposal to modernize the way we regulate the use of derivatives in investment funds’ portfolios.

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SEC Chair Clayton Talks More Modern Regulatory Framework

By Jay Clayton September 30, 2019 by renholding

Today [Septemer 26] , the Commission announced three important rulemakings.

Modernizing the Approval Framework for ETFs. We adopted a new rule that (1) sets forth a clear and consistent framework that will allow exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”) meeting certain standardized

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SEC Commissioner Peirce Talks Exchange-Traded Funds

By Hester M. Peirce June 14, 2019 by renholding

Welcome to all of you. We are so delighted to be able to host you at the Securities and Exchange Commission for today’s workshop on exchange-traded funds (ETFs). The discussion today is sure to be fascinating. Aside from my greeting,

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