SEC Guts Shareholder Rights
Statement of Bartlett Naylor, Financial Policy Advocate, Public Citizen
Note: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) under Chairman Jay Clayton today adopted new rule amendments regarding shareholder voting proxies in response to lobbying from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
“With this move, SEC Chair Clayton has gutted shareholder rights under the guise of what he calls Main Street interests. But it’s Wall Street, not Main Street, that will benefit. The only letters calling for this change were cooked up by allies of the Chamber of Commerce. It’s no secret that corporate America dislikes accountability. Clayton can’t fool us: this rule doesn’t serve investors or transparency. It serves bankers and Big Business.”