Friday, April 23, 2021
Growing evidence suggests that corporate focus on ESG Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance may offer short- and long-term advantages to both companies and investors. These advantages are in addition to and apart from the residual benefits to society-at-large that may be created by a company with a strong ESG performance.
While some may view ESG as a set of factors used solely by socially conscious investors to screen potential investments or environmentalists to pressure a company into changing its operations, ESG is becoming an increasingly mainstream set of criteria. Investors are starting to focus on ESG to forecast and manage risks, and corporate leaders are looking to ESG for marketing and production efficiency.
Political Activity Disclosures: A Hidden ESG Requirement | King & Spalding
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SEC Warns Against Confusion in ESG Investments
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Regulatory Agencies
Just two days after being sworn in as Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Gary Gensler has already named four senior staffers, one of whom could signal a pivot toward an activist SEC.
After being confirmed by the U.S. Senate on April 14, Gensler was sworn in on April 17. His swearing in now shifts the power structure of the Commission back to three Democrats (Gensler, Allison Herren Lee and Caroline Crenshaw) to two Republicans (Hester Peirce and Elad Roisman). Allison Herren Lee had been serving as Acting Chair in the interim.
The new chairman is expected to bring a strong enforcement focus to the Commission, along with a more progressive agenda. In announcing the appointment of his policy director, Gensler has given the nod to someone with strong ties to labor unions and public interest groups.
April 21, 2021 at 12:15 PM
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(Photo by Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The opaqueness federal agencies are known for is not a design feature as much as it is an ancillary consequence of a complicated world. Nobody is necessarily hiding how these organizations are run or what they are doing. But with at least dozens of these federal entities in existence and maybe hundreds, depending on how you define “federal agency” it can get a bit overwhelming.
Still, getting to know certain federal agencies is worth the time. For anyone even tangentially involved in the financial industry, the swearing-in of the new U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman, Gary Gensler, is the perfect excuse for a little review, as well as a glimpse into what to expect in the coming months.