– SEC chairman Paul Atkins has made comments threatening toban overseas companies from using accounting rules from the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) should the IFRS Foundation doesn’t change its sustainability and climate requirements.
Atkins was speaking to the Financial Times (paywall) when he said that the IFRS Foundation was ‘chasing political fads’ with sustainability issues, describing it as ‘a real issue, a real problem’.
According to Atkins, the new sustainability principles being adopted by the IFRS ‘could undermine the integrity of IFRS and particularly its compatibility with [US accounting standards]’. The SEC chairman also questioned whether the regulator should ban the use of IFRS accounting standards in the US.
For nearly two decades, the SEC has permitted foreign companies listed in the US to use accounting standards set by the IFRS Foundation instead of requiring them to follow US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP).
– Altai Capital Management is preparing a board challenge at OraSure Technologies after raising its stake in the company from 3 to 5 percent. As reported by Reuters (paywall), the hedge fund, led by Rishi Bajaj, seeks board representation to push for strategic changes amid growing investor dissatisfaction.
The move comes after OraSure, known for its Covid-19 rapid tests, rejected a buyout offer from healthcare entrepreneur Ron Zwanziger, though Altai and Zwanziger are not collaborating.
Two of the company’s directors are up for re-election next year and Altai may nominate candidates, including Bajaj. Bajaj previously led a successful turnaround at ContextLogic, doubling its share price in the process. OraSure’s stock has fallen 23 percent over the past year but recently recovered slightly.
– Republican lawmakers are leading efforts to change the rules governing shareholder proposals in proxy statements, specifically those filed by activist shareholders.
The House Financial Services Committee, led by chairman French Hill, is holding a hearing entitled ‘Proxy Power and Proposal Abuse: Reforming Rule 14a-8 to Protect Shareholder Value’ which will address the subject.
The proposed changes would revise SEC Rule 14a-8 to make it harder for shareholders to submit or resubmit proposals deemed unrelated to core business operations.
Lawmakers also seek increased oversight of proxy advisory firms and restrictions on ‘robovoting’ by institutional investors. The reforms specifically target ESG initiatives, which critics say distract from financial performance.
Supporters argue the move protects companies from political agendas, while opponents warn it could weaken shareholder rights and accountability in corporate decision-making.
– Activist investor Elliott Management has become one of the top three shareholders of Japanese utility Kansai Electric Power,amassing a stake of between 4 and 5 percent, as reported by Reuters.
According to sources familiar with the matter, Elliott is calling for Kansai to increase its dividend to ¥100 ($0.68) per share up from ¥60 per share as well as increase share buybacks by selling non-core assets.
Elliott has identified more than ¥2 trn in non-core assets at the company, including real estate valued at over ¥1 trn and a stake in a construction firm, according to the person.
– As reported by CNBC, Meta and Bytedance, the parent companies of Facebook and Tiktok respectively, have won a legal challenge against the European Commission on the way it calculated a supervisory fee imposed on them under landmark tech rules.
Both companies sued the Commission after they were hit with a supervisory fee of 0.05 percent of their annual global net income to cover the EU executive’s cost of monitoring their compliance with the Digital Services Act.
The amount of the annual fee depends on each company’s average number of monthly active users and whether it reported a profit or loss in the previous financial year. Both companies argued that the methodology was flawed and led to unfairly high fees.
While the two social media giants won its case, they will receive no money back; instead the European Commission will have to reform its fees.
– Tesla has put forward a new 10‑year compensation plan for CEO Elon Musk with a maximum potential value of $1 trn tied entirely to performance, Bloomberg (paywall) reports.
Under the proposal, Musk would receive up to 423.7 million restricted shares (approximately 12 percent of Tesla’s free float) if he hits a series of demanding targets. Key milestones include raising Tesla’s market capitalization from around $1 trn to $8.5 trin, delivering 20 million cars, achieving 1 million paid full self‑driving subscriptions and deploying the company’s planned robotaxi and AI robotics divisions.
Vesting of awarded shares depends on Musk remaining in a senior executive role such as CEO for at least 7.5 to 10 years. The last two tranches also require a board‑approved CEO succession plan.
The plan aims to lock in Musk’s long‑term leadership just as Tesla pivots more heavily into robotics, autonomy and AI.
– The SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) have announced a joint effort to coordinate their regulatory frameworks across market sectors.
As reported by Bloomberg, the regulators have scheduled a public roundtable for September 29 to address areas like alerting and capital regimes, reporting standards and unified product and venue definitions.
SEC chairman Paul Atkins and CFTC acting chair Caroline Pham emphasized the need for coordination to reduce duplicative rules, clarify oversight of emerging sectors – including crypto and prediction markets – and boost US competitiveness.
The move reflects urgency across the financial industry, which has long complained about conflicting and fragmented regulations that hinder innovation and efficiency.