On September 29, 2021, the Securities and Exchange Commission issued a proposal to expand investment company disclosures of their proxy voting activities. If adopted, the rules would enhance the information mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, and other regulated investment companies are required to report on Form N-PX under the Investment Company Act. These expanded disclosures are intended to make proxy voting decisions made by investment company advisers more complete, accessible, and understandable to investors. 

In his first address as Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Jay Clayton reaffirmed his dedication to the Commission’s guiding principles and historic approach to regulation. At the same time, however, Chairman Clayton said he sees areas where the SEC’s regulations need to evolve to "reflect the realities of our capital markets.” One of these realities is that implementing regulatory change has costs, and over time cumulative regulation and the associated costs can drive behavior that has dramatic effects on the market.

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA)’s report on Trends, Risks, and Vulnerabilities No. 1, 2017 (TRV) is the body’s latest effort to highlight areas of risk facing European financial markets. Noting that financial markets remained relatively calm since its last quarterly assessment, ESMA said that risks in the markets "remained at high levels, reflecting very high risk in securities markets, and elevated risk for investors, infrastructures, and services.” ESMA’s overall risk assessment remained unchanged with market and credit risks remaining at "the highest level,” while liquidity and contagion risk remained merely “high." The report also identified political and policy uncertainties following Brexit and the U.S. elections as well as potential repercussions from the upcoming elections in some E.U. member states as the main risk drivers for 2017. ESMA also expressed concerns about haircut levels in securities financing transaction (SFT) markets but said that lack of haircut data was a significant impediment to assessing risks in SFT markets.