Wednesday, December 21, 2011

ISS Issues Whitepaper on Pay for Performance Methodology

Author: David Schwartz J.D. CPA
On December 20, ISS published its white paper laying out in detail the pay for performance methodology it will implement under its 2012 policy updates. The goal of the white paper is to help both institutional clients and the companies in which they invest more fully understand ISS’ pay-for-performance methodology in advance of the 2012 proxy season.
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Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Schapiro: SEC to Focus on Proxy Advisory Firms and Beneficial Ownership Rules

Author: David Schwartz J.D. CPA
In her December 15, 2011 address before the Transatlantic Corporate Governance Dialogue, SEC Chairman, Mary L. Schapiro, stated that in response to comments received on the Commission's Proxy Plumbing concept release, the Commission is seriously considering providing guidance on how the federal securities laws should regulate the activities of proxy advisory firms, in addition to other key areas of proxy reform.
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Saturday, December 17, 2011

Bank Board Structure and Performance

Author: David Schwartz J.D. CPA
The financial crisis has put a spotlight on the corporate governance structures of financial institutions, raising questions about whether the prevailing governance structures of banks are ineffective and whether implementing independence standards imposed by the Dodd-Frank Act, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the major stock exchanges will improve bank governance. A recently published paper by Renee Adams, Professor of Finance at the University of New South Wales, and Hamid Mehran of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, attempts to answer to this question by examining the relationship between board composition and size and bank performance.

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Friday, December 9, 2011

Senate Finance Committee Asks for Volcker Rule Delays and Revisions

Author: David Schwartz J.D. CPA

In a December 7 letter to the Fed, SEC, CFTC, OCC, and FDIC, House Financial Services Committee Chair Spencer Bachus (R-ALA) requested that the comment period for the proposed regulations implementing the Dodd-Frank Volcker Rule be extended for at least 30 days to accommodate a January 18, 2012 Financial Services Committee hearing. At present, the comment period for the regulations expires on January 13, 2012. Senator Bachus's letter claims the proposed regulations go too far, and that the proposals "are not clear and need much work."

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Thursday, December 8, 2011

US Banking Regulators Seek Additional Comment on Market Risk Capital Rules

Author: David Schwartz J.D. CPA

The Fed, the FDIC and the OCC have issued a release seeking additional comment on proposed modifications to the agencies’ market risk capital rules for banks with significant trading activities. This release amends a December 2010 proposal, and includes alternative standards of creditworthiness to be used in place of credit ratings to determine the capital requirements for certain debt and securitization positions covered by the market risk capital rules. 

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