Just before the holidays got going, BlackRock updated their voting policies and engagement priorities. Here’s a laundry list of those updated documents: For the changes to BlackRock’s Voting Benchmark Policies, here are eight notable things to be aware of – courtesy of Cooley’s Beth Sasfai, Michael Mencher and Jordan Cohen: It’s also notable that BlackRock has created a new initiative called “BlackRock Active Investment Stewardship,” …
Should the SEC Revisit Executive Security Perquisite Disclosure?
Here is the conclusion from this Cooley alert penned by Michael Bergmann, Brad Goldberg, Ali Murata, Amanda Weiss, and Janice Chan: “Reexamining personal security-related perquisites is further supported in an environment where the line between personal and business activities has been so significantly blurred since the 2006 release. Technological advancements have all but eliminated the nine-to-five workday for senior executives and ushered in a world …
New ISS Policy Updates, Pay FAQs and Hint of Pay-for-Performance Changes to Come
This Cooley Alert penned by Michael Bergmann, Brad Goldberg, Ali Murata, Beth Sasfai, and Megan Schilling digs deeper into the recent changes to ISS’ voting policy guidelines and executive pay FAQs than I recently did in this blog. Here is an excerpt related to the changes to the executive compensation FAQs: “On December 13, 2024, ISS published updates to its Executive Compensation Policies FAQ, which …
Nasdaq’s Board Diversity Rule Is Dead: Now What?
As we recently blogged about, the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit vacated the SEC’s approval of Nasdaq’s board diversity disclosure rules last week. As a result, these rules no longer apply to proxy and information statements filed by Nasdaq-listed companies. Cooley’s Beth Sasfai told me she is fielding a lot of questions about what this means for Nasdaq-listed companies. Beth notes it means …
ISS Updates Voting Policies and Executive Compensation FAQs
A few days ago, ISS issued this press release announcing the updating of its voting policies, for annual meetings held on or after February 1, 2025. Here is the complete set of ISS benchmark voting policies. There is not much this year in the way of change. The few changes are listed in this executive summary and this “policy updates” document. For the US, the policy changes …
5th Circuit Court Nixes Nasdaq’s Board Diversity Rule
Wow. By a 9-8 vote – that’s a close one! – the 5th Circuit decided that the SEC exceeded its authority when it approved the Nasdaq’s board diversity rule in Alliance for Fair Board Recruitment v. SEC last week. The 5th Circuit’s decision overrules a 5th Circuit panel decision from October 2023 that upheld the Nasdaq’s rule. It’s being reported that Nasdaq doesn’t intend to …
Corp Fin Director Erik Gerding to Depart
Not surprising given there are impending changes afoot for the positions of the SEC chair and the US president, Corp Fin Director Erik Gerding announced today that he will be leaving the SEC at the end of the year. Erik was well-liked by the Corp Fin Staff and boosted morale – so I’m sure he will be missed. Deputy Director Cicely LaMothe will step up …
The Latest Proxy Season Stats (& Expectations for ’25)
Related to today’s webcast – “Hot Governance and Engagement Proxy Tips You Need to Know” – courtesy of Steve Pantina of Proxy Analytics, here are 2024 proxy season stats through the end of November: 2024 Shareholder Proposal Stats Expectations for the 2025 Season Investor Guidelines Growing Divide Between Voting and Engagement
Shareholder Proposals: ISS-Corporate Tracks 10 Years of Trends
As we lurch toward the end of the year, it’s a good time to take stock of our lives. But also, it’s kind of nifty to compare where we are with shareholder proposals compared to a decade ago. This 13-page report from ISS-Corporate provides this trend data. Here are my top 10 takeaways from the trends:
What to Expect From the Mandatory Sustainability Disclosure Standards for Non-EU Companies
Here are four headline “Key Takeaways” about the draft sustainability reporting standards for non-EU parent companies from the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG), as pulled from this more detailed Cooley Alert penned by Emma Bichet and Jack Eastwood: By the way, here’s a 2-minute video about having a global strategic approach to ESG – and here’s another 2-minute video about adopting targets and goals …