Wachtell Lipton Discusses 2020 Voting Policies from ISS and Glass Lewis

By Andrew R. Brownstein, Sabastian V. Niles, Andrea K. Wahlquist and Carmen X.W. Lu November 15, 2019 by renholding

Proxy advisory firms Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Glass Lewis recently announced updates to their U.S. proxy voting policies for the 2020 proxy season. ISS’s new policies will apply to shareholder meetings held on or after February 1, 2020 and …

Commissioner Roisman on Modernizing SEC Rules About Proxy Voting Advice

By Elad L. Roisman November 6, 2019 by renholding

I. Introduction – An Important Milestone

Thank you, Chairman Clayton.

I have said before that proxy voting is fundamental to our capital markets.[1] Improving proxy voting is a subject that I am passionate about, and one I have cared

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The Shareholder’s Dilemma

By Adam Meirowitz and Shaoting Pi October 7, 2019 by renholding

Theoretical and empirical research on shareholder voting has provided many exciting insights and guidance for debates on policy and regulation. The default assumption, though, is that shareholders have strong incentives to vote for alternatives that they think are best for …

Nuveen Offers 2019 Proxy Season in Review

By Peter Reali and Anthony Garcia September 9, 2019 by renholding

The 2019 proxy season was marked by an increased willingness among shareholders to hold boards accountable on director elections, say- on-pay, and environmental, social and governance (ESG) shareholder proposals. For example, almost 5 percent of directors received less than 80 …

Chairman Clayton Speaks Before SEC Investor Advisory Committee

By Jay Clayton September 6, 2019 by renholding

Good morning. I understand the Committee will be continuing the discussion about our proxy system in today’s [September 5] telephonic meeting.

Last month the Commission issued guidance regarding how an investment adviser’s fiduciary duty and Rule 206(4)-6 under the Advisers

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SEC Chairman and Commissioners Issue Statements on Proxy Adviser Guidance

By Reynolds Holding August 22, 2019 by renholding

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s chairman and each of its commissioners issued a statement at yesterday’s open meeting on guidance about proxy voting and proxy voting advice. Chairman Jay Clayton’s statement is here. In support of the guidance, …

Blockchain Will Not Solve the Proxy Voting Problem

By Park Bramhall July 31, 2019 by renholding

The U.S. proxy voting process is widely viewed as inefficient, opaque, and frequently inaccurate. The conventional wisdom is that voting inaccuracy has arisen largely as a result of decisions made in the 1960s to transition to a system of share …

Can Blockchain Create a Corporate-Governance Revolution at Public Companies?

By Federico Panisi, Ross P. Buckley and Douglas W. Arner July 1, 2019 by renholding

In a new paper, we analyze the major disconnect between the theory of corporate governance, its legal expression, and the reality of corporate ownership structures, based on an “indirect holding system” (IHS), which has evolved from complex existing technological …

Vanguard Talks New Proxy Voting Guidelines With PJT Camberview

By PJT Camberview May 2, 2019 by renholding

Vanguard recently made three significant announcements, including an update to its proxy voting guidelines, changes to proxy voting responsibilities for its external managers and a commentary on its views and approach to corporate governance and sustainable investing.

On Friday, April

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SEC Commissioner Discusses the Proxy Process

By Elad L. Roisman March 20, 2019 by renholding

Today, I will talk about the proxy process. But, before I segue into any substance, this is a good time for me to provide my first standard disclaimer: My views and remarks are my own, and do not necessarily represent …

ISS Discusses U.S. Proxy Voting Trends from 2000 to 2018: Environmental and Social Issues

By Kosmas Papadopoulos February 5, 2019 by renholding

Appearances can be very deceiving. Case in point: The high-level summary numbers of voting results over the last 19 years seem to indicate that little has changed regarding proxy voting behavior among investors owning U.S. companies. A simple analysis of …

SEC Chair Clayton Offers Remarks at Proxy Roundtable

By Jay Clayton November 16, 2018 by renholding

My fellow Commissioners and I have agreed to keep our remarks brief so we can move forward promptly with this important program. I am going to highlight four items.

First, thank you to Bill, Michele Anderson and staff from the

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SEC Commissioner Roisman Offers Remarks at Proxy Roundtable

By Elad L. Roisman November 16, 2018 by renholding

Good morning and thank you to the Divisions of Corporation Finance and Investment Management for organizing this roundtable. I hope that everyone here will take this opportunity to engage in a thoughtful, meaningful discussion on the proxy process. If the …

SEC Commissioner Stein’s Opening Remarks at Proxy Process Roundtable

By Kara M. Stein November 16, 2018 by renholding

Good morning. Welcome to the SEC staff’s roundtable on proxy process. I would like to start by thanking Chairman Clayton for asking the staff to host a roundtable on this very important topic. I would also like to thank Michele

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The Role of Public Pension Funds in Governance

By Ying Duan, Yawen Jiao and Kunsun Tam October 24, 2018 by renholding

Public pension funds have great influence over corporate governance because of the size and nature of their portfolios: They manage more than $3 trillion in assets and often invest in a large number of companies. Besides largely unobservable private negotiations, …

Is Shareholder Voting an Effective Corporate Governance Tool?

By Cory A. Cassell, Tyler J. Kleppe and Jonathan E. Shipman October 3, 2018 by renholding

Proponents of shareholder voting argue that restricting it would reduce the ability of shareholders to hold management accountable. The implication of this argument is that mandating equal voting rights for all shares will benefit shareholders. However, the evidence as to …

SEC Commissioner Jackson Issues Statement on Shareholder Voting

By Robert J. Jackson, Jr. September 14, 2018 by renholding

Today, the Office of the Chairman and the Division of Investment Management at the Securities and Exchange Commission suddenly raised questions about long-resolved issues regarding shareholder voting.[1] Because the Investor Advisory Committee’s critical work in this area is ongoing, …

The Subversion of Shareholder Democracy and the Rise of Hedge-Fund Activism

By Jang-Sup Shin September 6, 2018 by renholding

Hedge fund activists are technically just minority shareholders, yet they exert enormous influence, often forcing companies to undertake fundamental restructuring and substantially increase stock buybacks and dividends. For instance, Third Point Management and Trian Fund Management, holding only 2 percent …

Institutional Investor Voting Behavior: A Network Theory Perspective

By Luca Enriques and Alessandro Romano May 17, 2018 by renholding

It is received wisdom that institutional investors have insufficient incentives to cast informed votes because they compete on relative performance. If BlackRock invests in the monitoring of one of its portfolio companies, it will become relatively less competitive vis-à-vis the …

Morrison & Foerster Covers the Highlights of World Economic Forum’s Blockchain Report

By Joshua Ashley Klayman, F. Dario de Martino and Alisha J. Turak September 19, 2016 by renholding

The World Economic Forum threw a knockout punch last month when it released its report, “The Future of Infrastructure: An Ambitious Look at How Blockchain Can Reshape Financial Services.”[1] When Giancarlo Bruno, the World Economic Forum’s Head …

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