The Securities and Exchange Commission is now accepting comments on two short selling disclosure requirements, in order to inform an agency study by the Dodd-Frank Act, the Commission said today in a statement. Under the provision, the study must evaluate two possible disclosure systems. The first, a “transactions reporting regime,” would add short sale-related marks […]
Arielle Bikard
Posted inFrom the Archive
FTC Accuses Companies of ‘Unreasonable’ Data Security Programs
The Federal Trade Commission charged Lookout Services Inc. and Ceridian Corporation with failing to keep their clients’ data secure, after breaches at the firms compromised sensitive information, including Social Security numbers, of almost 65,000 people, the agency announced yesterday in a statement. Both companies have settled. The FTC’s complaint against Lookout Services, a software company […]
Posted inAccounting & Auditing
House Considers Bill to Revamp CFPB Leadership
The House Financial Services Committee is considering a bill that would modify the Dodd-Frank Act by replacing the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection’s director with a five-person commission, at a hearing today. The Bureau, newly created under Dodd-Frank, is housed within the Federal Reserve System and is charged with ensuring that banks are transparent enough […]
Posted inBoards & Shareholders
Board Diversity Down, Study Finds, Aguilar Weighs In
The number of minority men who serve on boards at Fortune 100 companies decreased by 2.8 percent between 2004 and 2010, according to a study conducted by the Alliance for Board Diversity. Minority men only made up 9.1 percent of board members last year, while the number of white men serving on corporate boards increased […]
Posted inData Privacy
High-Profile Data Breaches Raise Security Alerts
The Treasury Department is pushing companies in the financial sector to beef up their data security. A few recent security breaches, including one last year at Morgan Stanley, have proven once again just how critical it is for national banks and their technology service providers “to perform periodic risk assessments of their information security programs” […]
Posted inBoards & Shareholders
Shareholders Are Getting Their Way on Pay
General Electric’s decision to revamp Chief Executive Officer Jeff Immelt’s pay plan two weeks before its annual meeting, fearing that shareholders would vote against it after Institutional Shareholder Services gave a negative recommendation, certainly hasn’t gone unnoticed by either companies or shareholders. The move seems to prove once more that the new say-on-pay rule, implemented […]
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SEC Extends Comment Period for Comp Adviser Independence
The Securities and Exchange Commission extended the comment period for its rule proposal to make board members who serve on compensation committees more independent and to minimize conflicts of interest with compensation advisers, according to the agency’s Website. Comments on the proposed rulemaking, which is required under the Dodd-Frank Act, will now be accepted through […]
Posted inUncategorized
SEC Pushes Back Whistleblower Rules
The Securities and Exchange Commission pushed back its release of the final whistleblower rules to between May and July, according to the agency’s schedule for implementing rules under the Dodd-Frank Act. They were previously scheduled to be implemented in April. This change contradicts the SEC’s whistleblower page, which states that the rules would be approved […]
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FDA Seeking Comments on Existing Regulations
The Food and Drug Administration has called for comments on existing regulations, as required under President Obama’s executive order “Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review” on January 18. The executive order’s “retrospective review of significant rules” requires government agencies to “develop and submit to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs a preliminary plan … under […]
Posted inUncategorized
Companies Fear Lawsuits, Higher Costs From Whistleblower Rules
The Securities and Exchange Commission is expected to publish its final rules for whistleblower bounties and other expanded protections any time now, and the corporate compliance community is anxiously wondering how current programs will meet the challenge ahead. If comments on the proposed whistleblower rules, published in November, are any indication, companies are not terribly […]