The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) voted on Wednesday to propose several amendments to financial firms’ voting transparency rules, including requiring them to disclose voting procedures and outcomes on executive salaries, The Hill reported. If approved, the rule would require managers of hedge funds and pensions to report the process through which shareholders of the firm vote on top executives’ compensation. Commissioners voted 4-1 in favor of the new rules. Commissioner Allison Herren Lee, the former acting chair of the SEC, called the amendments “meaningful improvements” that will enhance voting disclosure to bring better transparency for stakeholders. “It is critical for investors and the public—academics, policymakers, issuers, and a wide variety of market participants—to understand and evaluate the role of funds and managers in the capital markets,” Lee said in a statement. “Thus, how voting authority is exercised—or, in some cases, not exercised—is unquestionably significant to the investors who rely on intermediaries to vote their investment dollars.”
