Archive
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Institutional investor support for ESG proposals drops in 2022
Number of E&S shareholder proposals in US spikes by more than 130 percent Amid a sharp rise in ESG shareholder proposals at US companies, a new report finds that average support for environmental proposals dropped to 33.8 percent this proxy season from 44.3 percent last year. Research from Insightia reveals that BlackRock’s support for environmental proposals fell by 4.4 percentage points to 20 percent this year, compared with 31 percent last year. Its support for social proposals recorded a drop of more than 15 percentage points, down to 19.2 percent in the 2022 proxy season. Vanguard supported more than 13…
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More US companies holding in-person AGMs, study finds
Trend marks reversal of tendency seen during initial phase of pandemic Almost two thirds (63 percent) of US companies’ AGMs were held in person in the six months to June 30 – anincrease from 55.9 percent last year, according to new research. The report from Computershare also notes that no US companies used a hybrid format for their AGM this past proxy season, unlike their peers in other global regions. Many companies switched to holding virtual AGMs in 2020 and 2021 as the Covid-19 pandemic and related health concerns made in-person meetings difficult or impossible. Governance professionals had discussed the…
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The week in GRC: Companies seeking guidance on corporate minimum tax and SEC’s Gensler defends clawback rule
This week’s governance, compliance and risk-management stories from around the web – According to the Financial Times (paywall), executives at some US public companies will earn millions of dollars in equity-based bonuses this year because boards have reworked their compensation plans despite falling stock prices. Companies adjusted bonus plans in 2020 to account for the Covid-19 pandemic and have since revisited pay and eased performance assessments in response to inflation, energy crises and other macroeconomic problems, said Matteo Tonello, managing director at the Conference Board. ‘This phenomenon seems to be driven by the market for top talent, which continues to…
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Intel names compliance chief
Carol Tate has been acting CCO since January this year Intel Corporation has promoted Carol Tate to vice president and chief compliance officer (CCO). The move was announced on LinkedIn by April Miller Boise, executive vice president and chief legal officer (CLO) with Intel. According to her LinkedIn profile, Tate has been with Intel for almost seven years and had been acting CCO since January. Before then she was associate general counsel and director of ethics and legal compliance at the tech company. Carol Tate Before joining Intel, Tate was chief ethics and compliance officer at McCarthy Holdings. She was…
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DoJ enforcement memo draws attention to compliance and accountability
Attorneys say notice intended as ‘meaningful pivot’ A memo the US Department of Justice (DoJ) released last month outlining what the department calls revisions to its corporate criminal enforcement policies has shone a spotlight on how US companies guard themselves against internal wrongdoing and how they might respond and interact with the government if problems arise. Broadly speaking, the memo covers six areas: voluntary self-disclosure, co-operation credit, compliance programs, prior corporate misconduct, corporate monitors and individual prosecutions. In a notice on the DoJ’s release, attorneys at Gibson Dunn & Crutcher write that while much of the memo underlines previous guidance,…
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Pay versus performance: What public companies need to know
Jean McLoughlin and Kyle Seifried explain how upcoming rule changes will impact executive compensation disclosures The SEC’s new pay-versus-performance rule changes will present myriad challenges – and potential opportunities – to public company management teams and boards. Most publicly listed US companies must begin making these disclosures in their 2023 proxy statements. This creates a major new workstream during a demanding season when calendar-year companies and their outside advisers are already frenetically busy preparing for the annual financial disclosure process, year-end performance assessment and compensation cycle and related reporting and investor communications. Add to that the challenges and uncertainty in…
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CME Group hires general counsel
Jonathan Marcus was formerly CFTC general counsel Chicago-based CME Group has hired Jonathan Marcus as senior managing director and general counsel. Marcus is now chief legal adviser for derivatives marketplace CME Group and oversee the company’s compliance, enterprise risk management, legal and market regulation functions. He reports to CME Group chair and CEO Terry Duffy. Marcus most recently was a partner with law firm Reed Smith, where his practice focused on derivatives regulation, litigation and enforcement. Before that he was of counsel with Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom. He was previously general counsel of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission…
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Stewart Information Services Corp reveals CLO succession plan
John Killea has been legal and compliance chief since 2011 John Killea will retire early next year as chief legal officer (CLO) and chief compliance officer (CCO) of NYSE-listed Stewart Information Services Corporation. Elizabeth Giddens will succeed Killea as CLO and will be deputy CLO, working with Killea during a transition period. Giddens most recently was senior vice president and general counsel at Integer Holdings Corporation. According to her LinkedIn profile, she was previously senior vice president, deputy general counsel and corporate secretary at Mr Cooper Group. Before that, she was corporate secretary, senior attorney and deputy compliance officer with…
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Most companies looking at non-shareholder stakeholder interests, survey finds
New study assesses the influence on companies of stakeholder capitalism A large majority of companies are looking beyond the interests of just shareholders, but relatively few have so far created a formal approach to stakeholder capitalism amid growing interest in the concept, according to new research. In a study conducted by Corporate Secretary and sister publication IR Magazine, 75 percent of respondents globally say their company seeks information on the needs of stakeholders – groups that can include employees, customers, suppliers and local communities – other than shareholders. According to the survey, this is the case among 86 percent of…
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The week in GRC: Democrats ask DoJ to publish corporate crime data and US law firm partner pay rises, survey finds
This week’s governance, compliance and risk-management stories from around the web – Reuters reported that, according to the US National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), Apple retail workers voted to form a union at an Oklahoma location, the company’s second US store to organize. Employees at the Apple Penn Square store in Oklahoma City voted 56 to 32 in support of joining the Communications Workers of America Union, according to a tally by the NLRB. The move to organize spread to new industries during the pandemic amid concerns about workplace safety. Momentum has continued at companies including Amazon and Starbucks. The…