Corporate governance - Vigil

[T]here is considerable speculation regarding what legal changes are in store for the financial services industry in the [Trump] administration. During his campaign, President Trump consistently emphasized that financial regulatory reform is a critical component of his plan to increase economic growth and create jobs.

A majority of community-based financial institutions expect technology spending to grow 1% to 10% in 2017 from last year as they look to improve the utilization of technology across digital banking, customer relationship management and IT systems, a new survey says.

In recent years, “board refreshment” has gained considerable attention in corporate governance dialogue — not surprisingly, given the increased frequency of board composition and tenure changes sought and wrought by institutional and activist shareholders. 

Ottawa, January 24, 2017—From 9/11 to the more recent attacks in Brussels and Paris, the absence of timely and effective sharing of information between security stakeholders has been repeatedly identified as a shortcoming. A new briefing from The Conference Board of Canada’s Centre for National Security reviews the state of information sharing in Canada and identifies areas for improvement.

This past year witnessed a number of new corporate governance initiatives. Among the most significant: BlackRock, State Street and Vanguard each issued strong statements supporting long-term investment, criticizing the short-termism afflicting corporate behavior and the national economy an

Significant developments during the past twelve months have prompted this new edition of our annual Dealing with Activist Hedge Funds.

In Solera Stockholders Litigation (Jan. 5, 2017), a former stockholder of Solera Holdings, Inc. sought post-closing damages in connection with the acquisition of Solera by Vista Equity Partners, a private equity firm, in a $3.7 billion merger. The plaintiff in effect alleged that the Solera directors, in violation of their Revlon duties, had concentrated on private equity buyers rather than strategic buyers, had favored Vista over the other bidders, and had created a conflict of interest (which was not disclosed to stockholders) by shifting the company’s bonus programs that incentivized long-term growth of the company to a short-term retention program that incentivized management to sell the company.

President Trump made a bold statement as one of the first items on his presidential agenda: “cut regulation by 75%, maybe more.” Learn how these changes can effect you and what key governance trends to watch out for in 2017 to be an responsible board member.

Gadfly proposal on your proxy? One implicit conclusion from a recent academic study is that you should short the company if the SEC allows the proposal.

Staples, Inc. (Nasdaq: SPLS) announced today that the company’s Board of Directors has elected Robert E. Sulentic to serve as Independent Chairm

As the Trump administration works through its first full week, corporate governance and legal professionals have a range of items on their – or their clients’ – wish lists for the next year or so, including clarity on compliance officer liability and insider trading.