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ASA Urges Congress and SEC to Hold Proxy Advisory Firms Accountable
- ASA Newsroom
- 3 hours ago
- 2 min read
WASHINGTON – The American Securities Association (ASA) today sent a letter to the Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets’ leadership outlining its recommended proxy advisory reforms ahead of a hearing examining the proxy advisory industry, the influence proxy advisors have on public company corporate governance, and their contribution to the politicization of America’s capital markets.
“The foreign-owned proxy advisory firms have used America’s capital markets to advance a political agenda that has cost America’s working families, retirees, and savers millions of dollars,” said ASA President and CEO Chris Iacovella. “ASA commends Chair Wagner for holding this important hearing exposing what the Committee has labeled as the ‘Proxy Advisory Cartel’, and we look forward to partnering with Congress and the Trump administration to make the proxy advisory industry accountable to American investors through the legislative and regulatory process.”
In the letter, ASA outlined its concerns about the Proxy Cartel’s conflicted business model and recommended policy solutions including:
1. Subjecting the recommendations of proxy advisory firms to the SEC’s antifraud rules;
2. Requiring enhanced disclosure of proxy advisory firm conflicts of interest; and
3. Providing public companies with an opportunity to review and respond to proxy advisor vote recommendations.
To read ASA’s full letter to the Committee, click here.
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The American Securities Association (ASA) represents the retail and institutional capital markets interests of regional financial services firms who provide Main Street businesses with access to capital and advise hardworking Americans how to create and preserve wealth. ASA’s mission is to promote trust and confidence among investors, facilitate capital formation, and support efficient and competitively balanced capital markets. This mission advances financial independence, stimulates job creation, and increases prosperity. The ASA has a geographically diverse membership of almost one hundred members that spans the Heartland, Southwest, Southeast, Atlantic, and Pacific Northwest regions of the United States.