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…

Yesterday, the SEC Division of Corporation Finance hosted a roundtable on the impact of short-termism on U.S. capital markets and whether modifications should be made to the reporting system to address these impacts. In December, the SEC published a request for comment on these topics, specifically with respect to earnings releases and quarterly reports. At yesterday’s roundtable, the SEC reiterated that the comment period is still currently open. The roundtable was comprised of  two panels,…

In a House Financial Services Committee hearing yesterday, committee members debated the merits of five draft bills that would require public companies to disclose information on several environmental, social and governance, or ESG, topics including climate change risk, political expenditures and human rights risk. Hosted by the Subcommittee on Investor Protection, Entrepreneurship and Capital Markets, the hearing included witnesses representing CalPERS, Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), Ceres, Decatur Capital Management, an investment management firm, and Patomak…

Last week, Citi announced its support of the Principles for Responsible Banking (the Principles), joining a list of banks from around the world that have committed to becoming signatories. The Principles were developed by a group of 28 banks, jointly representing more than $17 trillion in assets, on behalf of the wider United Nations Environment Programme Initiative (UNEP FI). Citi has been a member of UNEP FI, a partnership between UNEP and the global financial…

Today begins the window where certain public companies in the U.S. and Canada have the option of submitting changes to their respective peer groups to Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (“ISS”). The submission window closes next Friday at 8:00 PM EDT, July 19, 2019. ISS’ invitation is directed to companies with annual meetings scheduled between September 16, 2019 and January 31, 2020 that have changed or anticipate changing their respective peer group from their last proxy…