The Magazine of Corporate Responsibility

Tag Archive for ‘Mary Schapiro’

SEC Adopts Final Whistleblower Rules

Commission chairman Mary Schapiro said that while the Sarbanes-Oxley Act has helped protect whistleblowers and improve internal reporting systems at public companies, “too many people remain silent in the face of fraud. Today’s rules are intended to break the silence of those who see a wrong.”

SEC in Hot Seat, Facing Funding Fight and Criticism Over Ethics

Mary Schapiro, head of Securities and Exchange Commission, heads to Capitol Hill on Thursday to advocate for a funding increase, which Congressional Republicans have said that her agency doesn’t deserve. She has also been criticized for hiring a top lawyer for the SEC who had financial ties to Bernard Madoff, whose massive Ponzi scheme the agency failed to pursue for years.

Budget Cuts, Lobbying Challenge SEC’s Oversight

When President Obama came into power on the heels of the financial crisis, he pledged to beef up the Securities and Exchange Commission, a chief watchdog of Wall Street. But with a strapped budget and the changing political winds in Congress, that plan may come up short.

Influential Voices in U.S. Board Rooms

Regulators and rulemakers led the list of 100 most influential people affecting corporate governance in America’s board rooms in 2010, according to the National Association of Corporate Directors. Sen. Christopher Dodd and Rep. Barney Frank, authors of the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Law, were re-elected to the list as was Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary L. Schapiro.

SEC Approves Proxy Access for Shareholders

Given the green light by Congress, the Securities and Exchange Commission approved and released a long-awaited rule on procedures under which shareholders can get their nominees for directors included in corporate proxy materials. Under the new rule, shareholders seeking access to proxies would have to own at least 3% of the total voting power entitled to vote at an annual meeting.

SEC Seeks Comments on New Financial Rules

As the Securities and Exchange Commission prepares to deal with a deluge of new rule-making tasks tied to the Dodd-Frank financial reform law, agency Chairman Mary Schapiro announced a new system for soliciting public input on rules. “We are inviting public comment even before the various rules are proposed and before the official comment periods have begun,” she said.

Securities and Exchange Commission Fact Sheet on U.S. Proxy System Inquiry

This is a complete text of the July 14, 2010 fact sheet issued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission seeking comment on the U.S. proxy system.

Proxy Advisors Find Themselves in the Spotlight

Proxy advisory services play a key role because institutional holders turn to them for advice when voting billions of shares at annual meetings. Questions are now being raised about the influence of the services and whether more formal oversight is needed. As a result, proxy advisory services may be about to start receiving their own report cards for a change.

Investors Introduce Record Number of Climate Change Resolutions

The resolutions, up 40% from last year, have been presented to some of the nation’s largest coal companies, electric power and oil producers, home builders, big box retailers, financial institutions and other businesses thought to be not adequately disclosing and managing potential climate-related business impacts.

Opinion: SEC on ESG?

When do you know that ESG (or factoring environmental, social, and governance issues into investment and corporate decisions) has gone mainstream? One signal would be the agenda of last week’s meeting of the Securities and Exchanhe Commission’s Investor Advisory Committee, which included items such as “ESG Disclosure Work Plan” and “Proxy Voting Transparency.”