Founded in 1969, NIRI is the professional association of corporate officers and investor relations consultants responsible for communication among corporate management, shareholders, securities analysts and other financial community constituents. The largest professional investor relations association in the world, NIRI’s more than 3,500 members represent 2,000 publicly held companies and $5.4 trillion in stock market capitalization.

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Washington Blizzard Creates a False Quiet from Blanket of Snow

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Washington Blizzard Creates a False Quiet from Blanket of Snow

The tone in Washington this past week reflected the recent 30+ inch crippling storm – things seemed quiet on the outside, but behind closed doors there was a lot of activity. A few things on the political side to note this week:

• The Senate Banking Committee’s financial reform bill quietly stalled as Democrats and Republicans failed to reach agreement. Expectations are that we may see both Democratic (Dodd) and Republican (Shelby) Senate bill drafts very shortly. While the Democratic bill will likely contain say-on-pay, majority voting, annual director elections, and proxy access, I don’t expect these in the Republican bill. Things will definitely heat up here as the committee begins public discussions.

• On the Congressional side, Barney Frank can’t stand the quiet and is now calling for salary disclosure of Wall Street’s top performers.

• Democratic Senator Schumer and others are also calling for disclosure and shareholder approval before companies engage in political activities. Suggestions like this will continue to create more divisiveness between Democrats and Republicans.

• President Obama released his proposed budget including a 10.3% proposed increase for the SEC to boost enforcement – about 70 more positions.

The SEC continues to be an active agency and here is the relevant update for the past week:

• At the top of the list was the release of the SEC Interpretive Release Regarding Climate Change Disclosure. While many are critical of the SEC issuing this release, I urge you to read it and to be a part of the internal discussion on presentation of this information to investors. The release also indicates the SEC will hold a public roundtable in the spring on climate change disclosure matters and will determine if further guidance or additional rulemaking is appropriate. NIRI will provide more information on this including a NIRI webinar on March 2nd. My thanks to those who have been actively discussing this issue on NIRI’s eGroups.

• As I have mentioned over the past few weeks, the SEC is expected to rule on additional short selling uptick/circuit breaker curbs in the coming weeks. I am pleased to continue hearing positive things regarding the changes.

• I also remain puzzled that the SEC has not approved the straightforward Notice & Access changes suggested late in 2009. The Commission has not been forthcoming with information leading me to speculate that this may relate to some views there that Notice & Access should be discontinued.

• NIRI and the Society of Corporate Secretaries and Governance Professionals have been working on a discussion draft regarding proxy advisory services that we expect to release soon.

• NIRI is also finalizing a comment letter to the SEC on darkpools that we will share with you in the near future.

Finally, I want to pass along a link to a webinar about the convergence of IR and governance held last week at the NYSE where I served as a panelist. Panelists included NIRI member Mickey Foster, head of IR at FedEx, and Paul Washington, Deputy General Counsel & Corporate Secretary with Time Warner. Paul is also the current Chair of the Society of Corporate Secretaries and Governance Professionals. Judy McLevey, VP of Corporate Actions and Market Watch at the NYSE moderated.

Until next week,

Jeff Morgan, CAE
President & CEO
jmorgan@niri.org
www.twitter.com/jeffreydmorgan

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National Investor Relations Institute

Washington Blizzard Creates a False Quiet from Blanket of Snow