This past Thursday, the Investor Advisory Committee (IAC) of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reviewed and discussed the written proposal from the Investor-as-Owner Subcommittee (Subcommittee) for a recommendation to the Commission on modifying and improving the structure of the proxy process, commonly referred to as “proxy plumbing.”  The discussion was a continuation of the discussion the IAC previously held at its September 2018 public meeting.  That meeting preceded the SEC Roundtable on the Proxy…

Davis Polk recently contributed a chapter to The International Comparative Legal Guide: Corporate Governance 2019 titled ESG in the US: Current State of Play and Key Considerations for Issuers. With the growing importance of environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues to public companies and their investors, this chapter aims to provide insights on the current ESG landscape – from the voting policies and ESG investing platforms of top asset managers to the dizzying array of…

Yesterday, Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (ISS) announced its annual Benchmarking Policy survey. ISS will use survey responses to inform its policies governing 2020 shareholder meetings. Institutional investors, public companies, board directors, corporate advisors and other market participants are welcome to participate. Participants can make survey submissions until 5:00 PM ET on August 9, 2019.  ISS typically publishes the survey results a few weeks thereafter. While the survey includes questions targeting both global and designated geographic…