Tag Archives: SEC

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Letters to Regulators: Modernization of Beneficial Ownership Reporting

AFREF sent a comment to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) supporting the SEC’s proposals to modernize the reporting of beneficial ownership by including cash-settled derivatives in large position reports over Schedules 13D and 13G. We also urge the SEC to clarify its definition of who should constitute a “group” under the proposal as it should only apply to the sharing of material nonpublic information related to not yet disclosed large positions instead of efforts to improve the long-term corporate governance of companies.

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Letters to Regulators: Letter to the SEC on Stock Buybacks

AFREF led a letter with thirteen organizational signatories commenting in support of a rule proposed by the Securities and Exchange Commission that would significantly increase the transparency of stock buybacks.  A central component of the proposed rule is daily disclosures of stock buybacks.  (Current disclosure requirements are only quarterly.)  In the comment letter, we commend the SEC on the proposed rule and make recommendations to further strengthen protections against market manipulation and insider trading that we believe would improve long-term financial stability and growth.

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Letters to Regulators: Letter to the SEC on Corporate Governance Implications of Securities Lending

AFREF sent a letter commenting on the Security and Exchange Commission’s proposed rule to increase the transparency and efficiency of the securities lending market. Having already commented in support of the proposed rule, we submitted an additional comment to address its corporate governance implications. The securities lending market—as it pertains to equity shares—has important corporate governance implications, as investors cannot vote shares on loan. In our comment, we recommend the Commission enhance the proposed rule’s public disclosures to give investors the tools they need to ensure the securities lending practices of asset managers and retail brokers do not interfere with investors’ role in corporate governance.

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News Release: SEC Issues Important Proposal on Climate Disclosure

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has issued an important and thoughtful proposal to require mandatory climate financial risk disclosure from public companies. We look forward to commenting on ways that the proposal must be strengthened, in particular with respect to greenhouse gas emissions reporting and corporate climate-related impacts on communities.

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Letters to Regulators: Comment Letter in Response to the SEC’s Proposal on Swaps/Derivatives/13-F

AFREF sent a comment to the Securities and Exchange Commission calling for the agency to close long-running loopholes that have enabled certain hedge funds to use swaps and derivatives to avoid disclosing large positions which in turn can lead to coordinated attacks on companies and unnecessary volatility in the underlying prices of certain companies’ stocks. The implosion of family office Archegos Capital is emblematic of such a problem as its use of certain derivatives to build over an over 10% position of a company’s outstanding shares were never revealed until after it was forced to unwind and leading Globally Systemically Important Banks (G-SIBs) to take over $10 billion in losses as a result.

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Letters to Regulators: Comment Letter Supporting the SEC’s Proposal to Expand Position Disclosure Requirements via Form PF

AFREF sent a comment to the Securities and Exchange Commission supporting the agency’s proposal to expand position disclosure requirements (via Form PF) for both hedge funds and private equity funds. Many of the disclosure exemptions were formed when both types of funds were fractions of the size they are today and would give the SEC and by extension, the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) critical information to prevent the uncertainty and threats to financial stability that we saw with Long Term Capital Management in 1999 as well as the financial crises of 2008 and March 2020.

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Letters to Regulators: Letter Commenting on the SEC’s Proposed Rule on Executive Compensation

AFREF sent a letter commenting on the Security and Exchange Commission’s proposed rule to implement Section 953(a) of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, relating to executive compensation for financial performance.  The letter welcomes the SEC’s implementation of this important provision and makes recommendations to minimize executives’ incentives to focus on short-term shareholder returns at the expense of longer-term investments that contribute to equitable and sustainable economic growth over time.