Investigate Piwowar?
by Cydney Posner Not everyone is pleased by the actions taken by Acting SEC Chair Michael Piwowar directing the SEC staff to review the conflict minerals and pay-ratio disclosure rules. In fact, today, four Senate Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee have called for an investigation into whether he has […]
State Department ventures into conflict minerals
by Cydney Posner Bloomberg BNA is reporting that the State Department has launched a new review of “how best to support responsible sourcing of conflict minerals,” which will continue through April 28. Although it’s not known whether the SEC is involved in the State Department’s efforts, BNA suggests that the […]
Do board self-evaluations help produce a high-functioning board?
by Cydney Posner In this paper from the Rock Center for Corporate Governance at Stanford University, Board Evaluations and Boardroom Dynamics, the authors suggest that board self-evaluations aren’t all they’re cracked up to be. While, based on a recent study, 89% of directors believe their boards have the skills and […]
SEC approves T+2
by Cydney Posner At an open meeting this morning, the SEC voted to adopt an amendment to Rule 15c6-1 under the Exchange Act to shorten the standard settlement cycle for most broker-dealer transactions from three business days after the trade date (T+3) to two business days (T+2), unless otherwise expressly […]
European Parliament approves conflict minerals rules for the EU
by Cydney Posner Last week, the European Parliament approved, by a vote of 558 to 17 with 45 abstentions, new rules on conflict minerals, 3TG—tin, tungsten, tantalum and gold. Proceeds from the sale of conflict minerals, which are used in the production of products such as mobile phones, cars and […]
Just as the U.S. seeks to roll back regulations, the European Parliament adopts new corporate governance rules
by Cydney Posner Just when the U.S. is looking at how to roll back its regulations on corporations (among others) (see, e.g., this PubCo post, this PubCo post and this PubCo post), the rest of the world seems to be headed in the opposite direction. On Tuesday, the EU Parliament approved a […]
BlackRock sets its priorities for board engagement
by Cydney Posner Asset management firm BlackRock (reportedly the largest, with $5.1 trillion under management) has identified its “Investment Stewardship” priorities for 2017-2018, intended to help companies prepare for engaging with BlackRock. Among the hot topics are governance (including board composition and diversity), corporate strategy for long-term value creation in […]
Say farewell to the conflict minerals case, Nat’l Ass’n of Mfrs. v. SEC
by Cydney Posner The parties to the conflict minerals case have filed in the D.C. District Court a “Joint Status Report,” which requests that the Court enter a final judgment in accordance with the decision of the Court of Appeals. As a result, it will be case closed for National […]
SEC committee discusses multi-class common with unequal voting rights
by Cydney Posner An interesting topic of discussion at a meeting last week of the SEC’s Investor Advisory Committee was “unequal voting rights of common stock” — the trend over the last decade (plus) for a small number of IPO companies, particularly tech companies, to offer low-vote or, more recently, no-vote […]
State Street Global Advisors talks the talk on board gender diversity, but will it walk the walk?
by Cydney Posner Happy International Women’s Day! In this press release, State Street Global Advisors, which manages $2.47 trillion in assets, announced, on the eve of International Women’s Day, that it is “calling on the more than 3,500 companies [in which] State Street invests on behalf of clients, representing more […]
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