The US Securities and Exchange Commission is looking at whether proxy advisers have become so influential when it comes to corporate elections that rules should be imposed in them to create greater transparency. At a recent SEC-hosted meeting, brokers, institutional investors, business groups, and unions debated about the role that proxy advisors Glass Lewis & Co. LLC and Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. have played in shareholder voting.<\/p>\n
According to Bloomberg<\/em>, research from non-profit organization Conference Board reports that with the growth in institutional investors\u2019 percent of voting shares going up by over 50% there has been a growing demand for proxy research. However, there is concern by some that proxy advisors have a lot of power over the governance decisions of public companies yet they don\u2019t have to contend with much Commission oversight. Critics think proxy advisors influence shareholders to vote blindly on proxy measures without getting disclosures about possible conflicts. Meantime, supporters of proxy advisors say that they provide an important service\u2014especially to small institutional investors that lack the resources to assess every vote they make.<\/p>\n Mutual funds, pensions, and other mutual funds tend to be proxy advisers\u2019 typical clients. SEC Commissioner Daniel Gallagher attributes proxy advisers\u2019 \u201coutsized role\u201d to policy guidance issued by the agency in 2009 telling investment advisers they could fulfill an obligation to vote in the best interests of shareholders by depending on third party research.<\/p>\n