USA Today (March 21)
“Groundbreaking federal regulation unveiled Monday could change how Americans – and American companies – think about climate change.” A proposed SEC rule would require listed “companies to disclose the risks they face from global warming. Much as homebuyers are protected by rules requiring a seller to disclose problems, the new SEC rule would allow investors to judge how well or poorly a company is prepared for the future costs of a warming planet.”
Tags: Climate change, Future costs, Global warming, Groundbreaking, Homebuyers, Investors, Judge, Protected, Regulation, Risks, Rule, rule Disclose, SEC, U.S.
American Banker (March 21)
“A new Securities and Exchange Commission proposal would require public companies to report climate-related risks across their value chain. That could be especially difficult if it means banks have to account for their borrowers’ emissions.”
Tags: Banks, Climate-related risks, Difficult, Proposal, Public companies, Report, Require, SEC, Value chain
Financial Times (December 23)
In a “win for activists that signals trouble for other US companies,” the SEC “has rejected Apple’s petition to block three shareholder proposals from going to a vote at its next annual meeting…. Last month, the regulator changed its policies to make it harder for companies to win regulatory support to reject investor petitions.”
Tags: Activists, AGM, Apple, Investor, Petition, Petitions, Policies, Regulator, Reject, SEC, Shareholder proposals, Signals, Trouble, Vote, Win
Chief Investment Officer (March 26)
“The new leadership at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) continues to make environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing one of its top priorities. And now, the commission has launched a new webpage to provide information on ESG-related investing and agency actions…. The SEC is asking its staff to evaluate disclosure rules with an eye on facilitating the disclosure of ‘consistent, comparable, and reliable information on climate change.’”
Tags: Comparable, Consistent, Disclosure, ESG, Evaluate, Investing, Leadership, Priorities, Reliable, Rules, SEC, Webpage
The Street (December 1)
To promote diversity and better governance, Nasdaq has proposed new rules that “would require companies to appoint at least two diverse directors on their boards or explain their rationale for not meeting that objective.” Before submitting its proposal to the SEC, Nasdaq analyzed over “two dozen studies that found an association between diverse boards and better financial performance and corporate governance.”
Tags: Boards, Directors, Diversity, Explain, Governance, Nasdaq, Performance, Rationale, Rules, SEC
Wired (October 2)
“The SEC’s ‘punishment’ of Elon Musk is exactly what Tesla needed.” Though these results were probably unintentional, the settlement will “shore up Tesla’s leadership structure, save Musk from himself, and put both the company and its leader on firmer footing.”
Tags: Leadership, Musk, Punishment, SEC, Settlement, Tesla, Unintentional
Institutional Investor (October 17)
Due to strained resources, the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) is less likely to investigate insider trading that occurs further afield from its field offices. Traders seem to know this. “A 100-kilometer increase in distance between a firm and the nearest SEC office resulted in a 16.5 percent jump in illegal trades at that firm. Meanwhile, firms within 100 kilometers of the SEC were less likely to engage in these types of trades.”
Tags: Distance, Firm, Illegal trades, Insider trading, Investigate, Resources, SEC, Traders
Reuters (November 16)
“It will be a new day at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission after President-elect Donald Trump installs his choice to run the agency.” With the resignation of SEC Chairman Mary Jo White, who was a proponent of regulation, Trump’s team will have a relatively free hand. “Some rules already are marked for death or dialback.” Among them are the conflict mineral disclosure requirements and “a proposal that would require companies to disclose pay ratios between their CEOs and employees.”
Tags: CEOs, Conflict minerals, Dialback, Employees, Mary Jo White, Pay ratios, Regulation, Resignation, SEC, Trump, U.S.
Institutional Investor (October 2)
The Securities Exchange Commission is conducting a pilot program to determine whether a wider tick range will help drive liquidity and research, while reducing volatility. “Proponents believe a wider spread–$0.05, instead of the current $0.01 on exchanges—will lead to more displayed liquidity and thus an easier trading regime.” Over the next two years, 400 stocks will trade at the widened tick, while 1,200 stocks will serve as a control and two other groups of 400 stocks will test the effects of other variations.
Washington Post (November 23)
“No matter how much more money flows into the top tier of college athletics, few big-time athletics departments turn a profit.” Of the over 50 public schools in the Power Five conferences (The NCAA’s SEC, PAC12, Big 10, Big 12 and ACC), only about 15 to 25 have been profitable over the past decade. The majority operate at a loss, despite a more than doubling of revenue in the past decade.
