Financial Regulatory Forum

By Nick Paraskeva

NEW YORK, April 4 (Thomson Reuters Accelus) - The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission plans to reach into the boardroom to assess a financial firm’s culture of compliance, a senior commission official told a conference in New York.

The agency, departing from traditional practice to take a page from bank regulators, intends to have direct discussions with the firm’s board about the regulatory issues board members and senior management team are paying attention to, and how they are navigating them. (more…)

By Alex Lee

NEW YORK, March 23 (Business Law Currents) – In an environment of increased corporate governance scrutiny, succession planning through both departures and crises is a focal point for shareholder interests and transparency-related issues. Companies historically kept succession plans close to their vests, but recent succession episodes at Apple Inc., Bank of America Corpand Hewlett-Packard have highlighted the multitude of issues that shareholders have with respect to the concern shown by boards on such a significant matter.

In October 2009, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reversed its long-held position whereby the exclusion of shareholder requests for disclosure of succession plans from proxy statements was allowed. The SEC clearly recognized that succession planning-related matters are within the remit of shareholder proposals, and that boards must significantly address the issues as leadership voids or uncertainty could adversely affect companies. (more…)

    MADRID, Feb 22 (Reuters) – Three of Spain’s most important listed companies are considering uniting to resist a government proposal to abolish “poison pill” rules which limit shareholder voting rights, Expansion newspaper reported on Monday, without citing its sources. (more…)

   NEW YORK, Nov 4 (Reuters) – The top U.S. securities regulator on Wednesday called on Corporate America to upgrade its proxy voting practices to ensure shareholders a greater voice in governing the companies they own.

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