Mind the (Data) Gaps: SEC Commissioner Speaks at Conference on Financial Market Regulation
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Investor Relations, Engagement, and Shareholder Activism
Activist investors once limited their targets to mostly smaller, less known firms. Now, though, they increasingly target large, household names like Procter & Gamble, DuPont, and Berkshire Hathaway, aiming to influence company actions, replace management, or even purchase the company.
This increase in activism has been facilitated by changes that increase activist shareholders’ ability to exert influence and shape the views of other shareholders.[1] The resulting struggle between managers and activists to influence shareholder…
COVID-19 Isolation, Managerial Sentiment, and Corporate Policies
Skadden Discusses SEC and ESG Disclosure
During his Senate confirmation hearing for chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Gary Gensler said he would adhere to the U.S. Supreme Court’s view of materiality: Information is material (and should therefore be disclosed) if there is a substantial likelihood that a reasonable investor would consider the information important in making an investment or voting decision. He then noted that many shareholders are calling for disclosures on climate risk, human capital and political…
The Real Merger Gains: Correcting for Partial Anticipation
Davis Polk Discusses Who Can Have a Federal Reserve Master Account
The proposed guidelines that the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (the Board) recently issued for public notice and comment mark the latest development on one of the most important policy questions for the U.S. financial system today: who is entitled to have a master account? Having an account at one of the twelve Federal Reserve Banks (a master account) is necessary for an institution to have direct access to the Federal Reserve’s…
Who Will Regulate Central Bank Digital Currencies?
Sullivan & Cromwell Discusses New York Legislation on End of U.S. Dollar LIBOR
On April 6, 2021, the State of New York adopted long-anticipated legislation addressing the cessation of U.S. Dollar LIBOR (“LIBOR”). The legislation provides a statutory approach to so-called “tough legacy” contracts (contracts that (1) reference LIBOR as a benchmark interest rate but do not include effective fallback provisions in the event LIBOR is no longer published or is no longer representative, and that (2), in the case of overnight, 1-month, 3-month, 6-month and 12-month LIBOR,…
The Efficacy of PCAOB Operational Decision Making
The operating budget of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) has grown significantly since the regulator’s inception, with the total annual resources consumed by the PCAOB almost doubling—from $127 million to $252 million—between 2006 and 2018 (PCAOB 2007, 2019). However, because all auditors of U.S. public companies have been subject to PCAOB oversight since the initiation of the regulator’s inspection program in 2003-2004, academic research has thus far offered little insight into whether the…
Skadden Discusses Antitrust Enforcement in Biden Administration
President Biden has signaled a pro-enforcement approach to antitrust policy by naming Columbia Law School professor Tim Wu as a White House adviser and nominating Lina Khan, who also teaches at Columbia Law, to be commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Both are known for expansive views of the antitrust laws and advocacy of forceful enforcement, particularly against technology companies. The president has not yet announced nominees for the most critical antitrust enforcement positions…