The Obama Administration announced its plan for regulatory reform today, with proposals submitted by over 26 federal agencies to fit their operations’ costs into the shrinking fiscal budget, while adding some business-friendly features as part of the reform. In a statement, the administration said the reform is geared toward reducing costs, simplifying the system, and […]
Reese Darragh
Posted inFrom the Archive
D&O Insurer Offers Clawback Protection
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. adopted new rules last month allowing it to claw back up to two years of pay from officers and directors at financial firms found to have contributed to the failure of the firm, and already executives are looking for ways to circumvent it. Now one company might have a solution: […]
Posted inRegulatory Enforcement
SEC Faces More Scrutiny After Court Spiked Rule
When a federal appeals court last month overturned a rule to allow shareholder proxy access, it didn’t just deliver a rebuke to the Securities and Exchange Commission; it gave a roadmap to SEC critics eager to thwart the agency’s many other forthcoming rules. Now those critics seem to be proceeding just so, raising objections to […]
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Clawback Policies Gain Popularity Among Companies
More companies are taking the initiative to disclose their internal clawback policies despite delays in the final rulemaking deadline by the Securities and Exchange Commission to the first half of next year. In a report published by executive compensation data firm Equilar, the disclosure practice among Fortune 100 companies increased from 17.6 percent in 2006 […]
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New Executive Compensation Requirement in Canada
The Canadian Securities Administrators announced new rules for disclosure of executive compensation for public companies with the fiscal year ending Oct. 31, 2011. The agency had earlier made amendments to its Form 51-102F6, Statement of Executive Compensation. Among the issues to be addressed by companies in their compensation policies: risk-adjusted compensation, competence of the compensation […]
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U.S. Treasury Approves First State Small-Business Credit Incentive Applications
The U.S. Department of the Treasury announced today it has approved the State Small Business Credit Incentive (SSBCI) applications received from 11 states and Washington D.C. The allocation of $360 million under the incentive program is part of the Small Business Jobs Act signed into law last fall. In a statement, the agency said the […]
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Risky Business: Dodd-Frank Retention Proposal Gets Panned
The public comment period has now closed on new regulatory proposals that financial firms retain some of the credit risk for the collateralized securities they issue—and as with all things related to the Dodd-Frank Act these days, critics abound. The overall complaint was that the proposed rules, issued jointly by the Securities and Exchange Commission […]
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Social Media Communication Exempted From Supervision Under Proposed FINRA Rules
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority proposed new rules to exempt its members from having to obtain approvals prior to posting communication on their social media networks. In the proposal submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission, FINRA said the exemptions are granted to members provided that they are watching the communication materials in the same […]
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Companies Begin Disclosing ‘Downgrade Risk’
Goldman Sachs joined the trend to include the possible negative effects of the U.S. debt downgrade among the risk factors in the footnotes section of their Form 10-Q. ” On August 5, 2011, Standard & Poor’s lowered the long-term sovereign credit rating of U.S. Government debt obligations from AAA to AA+. On August 8, 2011, S&P also downgraded the […]
Posted inBoards & Shareholders
How to Avoid a Negative Recommendation From ISS on Say-on-Pay
The inaugural voting season for say-on-pay may be over, but the long war for better shareholder relations over executive pay is just beginning. In the last proxy season, more than 276 companies in the Russell 3000 received negative recommendations from proxy advisory firm ISS Corporate Services. Of the 276 companies that suffered the bad marks, […]