Proxy advisors (e.g., Institutional Shareholder Services (“ISS”) and Glass, Lewis & Co (“Glass Lewis”)) have played a substantial role in the design of executive compensation for many years. This has been due to the strong reliance of institutional investors (as well as investment advisors) on the proxy voting recommendations of firms such as ISS and Glass Lewis. Some commentators have viewed the proxy advisors as being quasi-regulators without any formal oversight of their potential conflicts…
Last week, the IRS issued Notice 2018-68 containing initial guidance on the amendments to section 162(m) made by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (“TCJA”), including the transitional relief for written binding contracts. On balance, the guidance is not particularly favorable to taxpayers, as it takes a narrow view of the grandfathering relief for arrangements in effect under prior law, particularly for arrangements with negative discretion, and a broad view of the new group of…
Amendment to Rule 701’s Enhanced Disclosure Threshold On July 18, 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) amended Rule 701(e) of the Securities Act of 1933, increasing from $5 million to $10 million the amount of securities that issuers may sell in reliance on Rule 701 during a 12-month period without triggering enhanced disclosure requirements. The amendment will become effective imminently upon its publication in the Federal Register. Background and Application of Rule 701’s Enhanced…
On May 11th, the staff of the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance issued 45 Compliance and Disclosure Interpretations (CDIs), replacing previously published telephone interpretations on proxy rules and Schedule 14A. Most of the updates are non-substantive, as noted by the SEC, and therefore the updates are primarily helpful for consolidating the relevant guidance in one place. Twelve of the CDIs relate to Item 10 of Schedule 14A, which sets forth the disclosure rules when a…
The Fifth Circuit recently vacated the US Department of Labor’s (“DOL”) 2016 fiduciary rule that had expanded ERISA’s fiduciary definition to those providing investment advice for a fee to an ERISA plan or its participants. In light of the Fifth Circuit’s decision, the DOL has issued a temporary enforcement policy halting the enforcement of certain prohibited transaction claims against investment advice fiduciaries. Under Field Assistance Bulletin 2018-02, the DOL indicated that it will not pursue…
They say every cloud has a silver lining and so it seems with recent developments related to the CEO pay ratio rule. By releasing new guidance on the rule last week, the SEC has dashed hopes that it would delay the effectiveness of the rule. However, at the same time, it has taken important steps to reduce the compliance burden. The guidance, which consists of an Interpretive Release, revised pay ratio Compliance and Disclosure Interpretations,…
At the ABA Annual Meeting on Friday, September 15th, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Division of Corporation Finance Director Bill Hinman (speaking for himself and not the SEC) said that the SEC did not plan to delay the implementation of the CEO pay ratio disclosure rules. Mr. Hinman also mentioned that the SEC anticipates issuing guidance on the pay ratio rule in the near future. We note that although the Financial Choice Act that…
It’s hard to believe it’s been a little over two years since the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted the final rule for the CEO pay ratio disclosure as part of its implementation of the Dodd-Frank Act. As most readers will know, the CEO pay ratio rule requires public companies (with certain exceptions) to disclose the ratio of the annual total compensation of their Chief Executive Officer (CEO) to the annual total compensation of their…
Companies preparing CEO pay ratio disclosure for the 2018 proxy season should not assume they will be able to rely on the Privacy Exemption with regard to gathering information about non-US employees. For a summary of the key provisions of the SEC’s final CEO pay ratio disclosure rule and the limited exemptions provided for non-US employees, see Baker McKenzie’s recent client alert. Invoking these exceptions will likely be difficult in practice. Companies should, however, generally be…
In the world of comp lawyers, this is the time of year when every day’s to do list includes a review of one or more (sometimes, many more) equity award agreements in need of an annual update. In view of recent events in the world of plaintiff shareholders, one of the areas we’re homing in on this year is the award agreement’s tax withholding provision and its level of discretion around whether or not shares will be withheld for taxes.