SEC Should Leave Proxy Advisory Firms Alone
Despite complaints by big business, ISS and Glass Lewis aren’t threats to capitalism.
Mr. and Mrs. 401(k) need all the help they can get.
Photographer: Victor J. Blue/BloombergJay Clayton, in his inaugural speech as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission last year, said his top priority was looking out for average investors, whom he called “Mr. and Mrs. 401(k).” In at least one area, though, Clayton seems as if he is worried most about Mr. CEO.
On Thursday, Clayton gave a speech outlining his priorities for 2019 and said that one of them was to impose new regulations on proxy advisers — the firms that review the shareholder proposals and corporate actions of thousands of companies to inform investors about the best way to vote at annual meetings. You know who also thinks that proxy advisory firms should be reined in? The nation’s largest corporations and their lobbyists. Proxy advisory firms are one of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s largest bugaboos.