This is a crucial year for the Dodd-Frank Act. More than 70 percent of its required rulemaking is either proposed or finalized, on track to take effect in the weeks and months ahead. For the first time, enough pieces of the regulatory reform puzzle are snapped into place to make an early assessment of if […]
Joe Mont
Posted inRegulatory Enforcement
Companies Still Winning Most Appeals to Exclude Shareholder Proposals
Proxy season is fast-upon us, and so too is the yearly battle between shareholder activists and companies over what shareholder resolutions should go to a vote and what can be left off the ballot. In recent years, activist investors—individuals, powerful pension funds, and activist hedge funds—have used the shareholder proposal process to push companies to […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
SEC Commissioners Push Agendas at Washington Conference
“The SEC Speaks,” an annual conference held by the Practising Law Institute in Washington D.C., traditionally offers a forum for officials at the Securities and Exchange Commission to boast of progress and promote their agendas. This year, four commissioners took advantage of the forum to do just that. Chairman Mary Jo White once again highlighted […]
Posted inRegulatory Enforcement
Business Wire Drops Direct Feeds to High-Speed Trading Firms
Addressing concerns that high-speed trading firms unfairly benefited from licensing direct feeds, Business Wire, a press release distribution service owned by Berkshire Hathaway, will no longer allow the practice. The decision, the company says in a statement, in part responds to a story critical of the practice in a recent edition of the Wall Street […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
U.K. Government, Banks Warned of Ukrainian Money Laundering Risks
Political unrest in the Ukraine is likely to pose corruption risks for U.K. banks, warns Transparency International, a global anti-corruption coalition. It is urging comprehensive sanctions and anti-money laundering efforts in the U.K. and financial centers around the world. “Your government has invested in learning from the experience of slow international response to freezing corrupt […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
Study: Companies Vary on Approach to Cotton Supply Chain Risks
Companies in the textile space have a lot of work ahead of them in assessing and disclosing the risk that the cotton they use involved slave labor, says a new report. “Cotton Sourcing Snapshot: A Survey of Corporate Practices to End Forced Labor,” includes survey results and ratings of 49 companies in the apparel and […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
SEC Targets Never-Before Examined Investment Advisers
The Securities and Exchange Commission’ Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations has launched an initiative directed at investment advisers that have never been examined, in particular those that have been registered with the Commission for three or more years. OCIE previously announced that examining these advisers would be a priority in 2014. These examinations will […]
Posted inRegulatory Enforcement
Nasdaq Will Use Kill Switches to Halt Trades, Prevent Flash Crashes
Responding to hardware and software glitches that have led to mini market meltdowns in recent years, Nasdaq is looking to implement a “kill switch” to instantly halt questionable trades. A proposed rule change filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission by the exchange’s parent company, Nasdaq OMX, seeks permission to make offer the risk management […]
Posted inEurope
EU Companies May Face Non-Financial Disclosure Demands
A vote could come any day now on a European Commission initiative to implement new non-financial disclosures for companies, including transparency on their sustainability, diversity, and environmental efforts and policies.The potential vote comes on the heels of the December release of the International Integrated Reporting Council’s final version a framework for integrated reporting, a global […]
