Securities and Exchange Commission

Subscribe to Securities and Exchange Commission
Governance

On November 15, 2022, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) published a press release providing an overview of its 2022 enforcement activities. The SEC stated that it had filed 760 enforcement actions in fiscal year 2022, which was a 9% increase from last year. The civil penalties, disgorgement, and pre-judgment interest ordered in SEC actions were $6.44 billion, the most in the SEC’s history and almost double the amount from fiscal year 2021. Of the total money ordered, civil penalties, which totaled $4.194 billion, were the highest on record.…

Continue Reading ESG continues to be a SEC enforcement focus

Governance

On June 30, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court decided West Virginia et al. v. Environmental Protection Agency, holding that the EPA lacks authority under Section 7411(d) of the Clean Air Act to limit greenhouse gas emissions from power plants through “generation shifting,” i.e., increasing the use of cleaner energy sources like wind and…

United States - Washington DC

At an open meeting on May 25, 2022, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC” or “Commission”) approved two new proposals regarding ESG that will impact the fund and investment management industry. One of the proposals is directed solely at registered funds and business development companies (BDCs), while the other applies to registered funds, BDCs…

United States - Washington DC

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rulemaking process has received much attention under Chair Gensler’s leadership not only because of the volume and substance of proposed rules, but also because of the relatively short comment periods allotted for the public to respond pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act process. As just one example of…

United States - Washington DC

On March 21, 2022, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) voted 3:1, with only Commissioner Hester Peirce dissenting, to propose long-awaited rules that, if adopted, would require extensive reporting by public companies of climate change-related disclosure and related attestation (the “Proposal”). Comments on the Proposal are due 30 days after…

Regulation

The US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Division of Corporation Finance (Division) published a sample letter with comments that the Staff intends to issue to public companies regarding their climate change disclosures—or lack thereof—in SEC filings. As explained in a prior Mayer Brown post, Commissioner Lee, when she was Acting Chair of the SEC earlier this year, directed the Staff to increase its attention on the ways in which public companies implement the SEC’s 2010 Guidance Regarding Disclosure Related to Climate Change, which provides direction to companies regarding the SEC rules that may require disclosure about climate change, despite the fact that climate change is not explicitly referenced in the existing rules.

The SEC’s disclosure requirements are largely principles-based and may require different information from different companies, including climate change-related information.…

Continue Reading US SEC Division of Corporation Finance Publishes Sample Letter to Companies Regarding Climate Change Disclosures

Products

On August 6, 2021, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved Nasdaq’s board diversity rule. Nasdaq originally proposed its rule in December 2020 and subsequently amended the proposal to reflect feedback submitted by commenters.

The rule requires Nasdaq-listed companies to have, or explain why they do not have, at least two diverse…

United States - Washington DC

On April 9, 2021, the Division of Examinations of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a Risk Alert that highlighted its observations from its recent examinations of investment advisers, registered investment companies and private funds offering ESG products and services. The Risk Alert also provides observations of effective practices.

ESG investing…

Cement factory, industrial enterprise. The smoking factory chimney

In another step toward the integration of climate factors into the US corporate disclosure landscape, Acting Chair of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Allison Herren Lee, issued a request for public input on climate change disclosures on March 15, 2021.

The request seeks input relating to 15 climate-related disclosure topics, including:…

Governance

The past few weeks have seen a flurry of ESG-related announcements coming from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Acting Chair and staff. The most recent press release announced that the SEC has created a Climate and ESG Task Force in the Division of Enforcement:

“[T]he Climate and ESG Task Force will develop initiatives to proactively identify ESG-related misconduct.  The task force will also coordinate the effective use of Division resources, including through the use of sophisticated data analysis to mine and assess information across registrants, to identify potential violations.
The initial focus will be to identify any material gaps or misstatements in issuers’ disclosure of climate risks under existing rules.  The task force will also analyze disclosure and compliance issues relating to investment advisers’ and funds’ ESG strategies.“

SEC registrants may be wondering if these announcements change their legal obligations and what actions they should take in response in order to ensure compliance. We discuss the implications for registrants in this Blog Post.…

Continue Reading US SEC Announces the Creation of a Climate and ESG Task Force