Author: David Schwartz J.D. CPA
Allison Herren Lee, the Securities and Exchange Commission's acting chair, called for more disclosure and transparency about proxy voting by mutual funds and institutional investors to ensure they line up with shareholder sentiment, particularly environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues.
In her remarks before the Investment Company Institute's annual Mutual Fund and Investment Management Conference on March 17, 2021, Lee said that the SEC's proxy voting "regulations haven't kept up with what is a new landscape of institutional investor-driven corporate governance." Consequently, she announced that the SEC would focus on strengthening shareholder democracy by updating its rules and guidance surrounding proxy voting and corporate governance — including clarifying the proxy voting responsibilities of investment advisers and making existing proxy reporting more accessible and understandable to the now more expansive universe of investors.