Gouvernance | Page 5

Le message a le mérite d’être clair ! Le blog of Manifest, the proxy voting agency se montre pour le moins critique (!) d’une réforme américaine qui vient d’être proposé et qui vise notamment à mettre en place un encadrement des agences de conseil en vote : « Global investors condemn US attempt to undermine their voting decisions »

The US House of Representatives’ Finance Services Committee last week passed a series of  Bills which seek to repeal large chunks of the Dodd-Frank Act which was passed in response to the 2008 financial crash.

The bills would amend the mandate on public companies to provide shareholders with a vote on executive compensation to occur only when the company has made a material change to the executive compensation; repeal the Security and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) authority to issue rules on proxy access and repeal the mandate that publicly-traded companies disclose the ratio of median versus chief executive officer pay.

Part of the package of legislative proposals is the Corporate Governance Reform & Transparency Act of 2016 would, if passed by Congress and signed by President Obama, require mandatory SEC registration for proxy advisory firms such as Manifest wishing to operate in the US.

À la prochaine…

Ivan Tchotourian

Morceau choisi :

In the stock market, more ownership seems to be concentrated in fewer hands all the time. (…)

The trend is accelerating. Twenty years ago, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices, the typical company among the largest 1,500 stocks had 3,342 shareholders of record. By the end of 2010, that was down to 2,689.

Among all stocks tracked by S&P Dow Jones Indices, shareholders of record have shrunk to a median of 352 today from 1,626 two decades ago.

À la prochaine…

Ivan Tchotourian

Le 30 mai 2016, sous les plumes de Marc Fagel, Monica Loseman et Scott Campbell, The National Law Journal (« Bonus Compensation Clawbacks Are New Norm ») m’a appris que la restitution d’une rémunération imméritée sous forme de bonus est devenue une norme… norme qui n’est pas sans questions !

Top executives are forced to give back money even when the SEC doesn’t allege personal misconduct.

À la prochaine…

Ivan Tchotourian

L’“Associated Press/Equilar S&P 500 CEO Pay Study 2016” vient d’être publié. Since 2011, Equilar has worked together with the Associated Press on various executive compensation studies. This latest version of an ongoing annual study identifies total compensation for 341 CEOs who served in that role at an S&P 500 company for at least two years as of fiscal year-end.

Voici les éléments essentiels :

• Median total compensation* for S&P 500 CEOs in this year’s study totaled $10.8 million. For those executives, the median pay increase was 4.5% from the year prior.
• Of the 341 executives in the study, just 17 were female. However, those female executives earned a median $18.0 million, compared to $10.5 million at the median for the 324 male executives.
• Healthcare companies in the S&P 500 saw the highest pay packages at the median, reaching $14.5 million. Utilities CEOs earned a median $9.3 million, the lowest of the industry sectors in the study.
• CEOs based in New Jersey earned more at the median—$20.7 million—than executives in any other state. New York had the second-highest median CEO pay at $14.5 million. While the number of S&P 500 CEOs varies widely, New Jersey also boasted the sixth-highest number of S&P 500 executives with 14, trailing New York (39), California (36), Texas (36), Illinois (22) and Massachusetts (17).

Vous trouverez une synthèse publiée au Chicago Tribune sous le titre “CEO pay climbs again, even as their stock prices don’t”.

À la prochaine…

Ivan Tchotourian

Le 7 mars 2016, a été introduit le projet H.R. 4718 Gender Diversity in Corporate Leadership Act of 2016  par Carolyn B. Maloney à la Chambre des représentants.

To require the Securities and Exchange Commission to establish a Gender Diversity Advisory Group to study and make recommendations on stratégies to increase gender diversity among the members of the board of directors of issuers, to amend the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to require issuers to make disclosures to shareholders with respect to gender diversity, and for other purposes.

Pour suivre l’évolution législative de ce projet, cliquez ici.

À la prochaine…

Ivan Tchotourian

Bonjour à toutes et à tous, 6 agences fédérales américaines (dont la SEC) ont publié pour commentaire (jusqu’au 22 juillet 2016) leur proposition de mise en place de l’article 956 du Dodd-Frank Act visant à interdire les rémunérations incitatives qui encourageraient une prise de risque inconsidéré des institutions financières. Ce document est intitulé : « Incentive-based Compensation Arrangements ».

The OCC, Board, FDIC, FHFA, NCUA, and SEC (the Agencies) are seeking comment on a joint proposed rule (the proposed rule) to revise the proposed rule the Agencies published in the Federal Register on April 14, 2011, and to implement section 956 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act). Section 956 generally requires that the Agencies jointly issue regulations or guidelines: (1) prohibiting incentive-based payment arrangements that the Agencies determine encourage inappropriate risks by certain financial institutions by providing excessive compensation or that could lead to material financial loss; and (2) requiring those financial institutions to disclose information concerning incentive-based compensation arrangements to the appropriate Federal regulator.

À la prochaine…

Ivan Tchotourian

Le National Credit Union Administration est devenu la première des six Agences à dévoiler une proposition de règle d’implantation de l’article 956 de la loi américaine Dodd-Frank (« Incentive-based Compensation Arrangements », 17 CFR Part 303, Release No.; File no., RIN). Commentaire à recevoir au plus tard pour le 22 juillet 2016 !

The OCC, Board, FDIC, FHFA, NCUA, and SEC (the Agencies) are seeking comment on a joint proposed rule (the proposed rule) to revise the proposed rule the Agencies published in the Federal Register on April 14, 2011, and to implement section 956 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act). Section 956 generally requires that the Agencies jointly issue regulations or guidelines:

(1) prohibiting incentive-based payment arrangements that the Agencies determine encourage inappropriate risks by certain financial institutions by providing excessive compensation or that could lead to material financial loss; and

(2) requiring those financial institutions to disclose information concerning incentive-based compensation arrangements to the appropriate Federal regulator.

À la prochaine…

Ivan Tchotourian