Providing fresh insight into how she will approach major issues facing the Securities and Exchange Commission, Kara Stein, installed as a commissioner in August 2013, shared her thoughts on disclosure reform and shareholder voting during a speech this week before the Council of Institutional Investors, a nonprofit association of pension funds. Stein said she fully […]
Joe Mont
Posted inFrom the Archive
Corporate Gift Giving a Little Less Posh in Era of U.K. Bribery Act
Corporate gifts have gotten a little less lavish in the wake of the U.K. Bribery Act. Executives are less inclined to gift luxury baskets, cases of wine, or expensive trips, and instead giving clients and prospects upscale pens and items marked with the company logo, according to a recent analyisis published on the International Meetings […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
CFPB Seeks to Overhaul Rules for Bank Privacy Notices
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has proposed a rule that would streamline the requirements for privacy notices issued by financial institutions, allowing them to be posted online instead of the current practice of delivering them individually to customers. The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act requires that banks and other financial institutions send annual privacy notices to customers that […]
Posted inUncategorized
Groups Take One Last Shot At Scaled-Back Conflict Minerals Rule
Not satisfied by the partial reprieve from conflict minerals disclosures the Securities and Exchange Commission provided last week, three business groups are making one last push in court to halt its implementation entirely. Their claim: the rule, stripped of its central disclosure requirement, is now meaningless. By June 2 public companies are required to commence […]
Posted inData Privacy
Regulating the ‘Internet of Things’
Despite its rather inelegant name, the “Internet of Things” is revolutionizing the business world and presenting regulators with some weighty challenges. The “things” in question are consumer products that can share data over the Internet– from automobiles to thermostats, dishwashers to slow cookers, pacemakers to insulin pumps. The benefits to consumers include convenience and efficiency; […]
Posted inUncategorized
SEC Issues Partial Reprieve From Conflict Minerals Rules
Building upon guidance issued by earlier this week by its Division of Corporation Finance, the Securities and Exchange Commission has issued a partial stay of its controversial conflict minerals rule. Companies will not be required to declare whether their products do, or do not, contain minerals that may benefit militias in the war-torn Congo by […]
Posted inUncategorized
Business Groups Blast SEC’s Conflict Minerals Workaround
Despite a partially successful legal challenge, the Securities and Exchange Commission still expects companies to meet the upcoming deadline for conflict minerals disclosures. In response, three business groups that sued to stop the rule are again demanding that the Commission, at the very least, delay those requirements. This week, Keith Higgins, director of the SEC’s […]
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Two SEC Commissioners Want to Scrap Conflict Minerals Rule
Two members of the Securities and Exchange Commission want to scrap a controversial “conflict minerals” rule in the aftermath of a successful legal challenge. In a joint statement, Commissioners Michael Piwowar and Daniel Gallagher, the SEC’s two appointed Republicans, wrote that: “A full stay is essential because the district court could (and, in our view, […]
Posted inRegulatory Enforcement
Mandatory Arbitration Agreements May Be an Endangered Species
Earlier this month, General Mills became a punching bag for consumer advocates when news of its unique approach to resolving legal disputes with customers came to light. A new policy, tucked away on its corporate Website, announced that many customer interactions, including downloading coupons and even liking General Mill’s Facebook page, could bind customers to […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
New Diversity Disclosure Requirements on the Horizon
Diversity looks to be the next social issue to influence new disclosure requirements. Regulators are preparing new requirements for companies to provide more information about the diversity of their workforces, and some states are also mulling quotas for women and minorities on corporate boards. Currently in the proposed rule stage, six federal regulators that oversee […]
