In October, Institutional Shareholder Services (“ISS”) released an off-cycle update to its Executive Compensation Policies Frequently Asked Questions (the “FAQs”), which are available at this link: US-Compensation-Policies-FAQ.pdf (the new questions are highlighted in yellow). As described in more detail below, the updates to the FAQs address ISS’s criteria for recognizing “robust” clawback policies and realizable
Compensation Committees
Glass Lewis and ISS Announce Updates For 2024 Proxy Season
Glass Lewis (“GL”) recently released its annual Benchmark Policy Guidelines for 2024. This update makes several changes to how the proxy advisory firm will evaluate company policies related to executive compensation. Institutional Shareholder Services (“ISS”) also released updates to its voting policies for 2024, including new and updated responses to its Compensation Policies FAQ.…
Proxy Season Greetings: ISS and Glass Lewis Announce Policy Updates Ahead of the 2023 Proxy Season
Proxy advisory firms Institutional Shareholder Services (“ISS”) and Glass Lewis (“GL”) each published their annual policy updates for 2023, which updates made certain changes relating to executive compensation.[1] As a general matter, the changes are incremental to the existing policies and do not significantly change the rubric by which ISS and GL review compensation…
Final SEC Clawback Rules: Key Dates that Issuers Need to Know
On November 28, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) published the final clawback rules (the “Final Rules”) under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank”) in the Federal Register.
Now that the Final Rules have been published in the Federal Register, issuers should be aware of the following key…
Long Time Coming: SEC Adopts Final Dodd-Frank Clawback Rules
Twelve years after the enactment of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, and many years after the Securities and Exchange Commission started considering regulations implementing the clawback provisions of Dodd-Frank, the SEC published the Final “Clawback” Rules (the “Final Rules”) on October 26, 2022. The Final Rules task national securities exchanges (“exchanges”)…
“Clawback Comeback”: DOJ’s New Focus on Clawbacks to Prevent Corporate Crime
In September 2022, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco delivered remarks unveiling the Department of Justice’s revised corporate crime guidance to “prioritize and prosecute corporate crime.” She reiterated that the number one priority for the DOJ is “individual accountability.” To that end, Monaco emphasized that the DOJ will “reward” companies that claw back compensation from executives…
NYSE and NASDAQ Compensation Committee Adviser Independence Rules Effective July 1, 2013
Publicly traded companies are reminded of the approaching deadline for compliance with certain of the SEC-approved final amendments of the NYSE and Nasdaq stock exchange listing rules governing compensation committee independence: By July 1, 2013, compensation committees must have the authority to retain and pay outside consultants, legal counsel and other advisers and the responsibility to consider certain independence factors before selecting such advisers.
NYSE companies will be required to include these authorities and responsibilities in their compensation committee charter by the July 1 deadline; however, Nasdaq companies may grant this authority by charter, resolution or other board action (subject to state corporate law) until the earlier of their first annual meeting after January 15, 2014 and October 31, 2014, when a formal compensation committee charter setting forth such authorities and responsibilities will first be required.