June 2, 2015
The SEC’s New Reg Flex Agenda is Out (But It’s Meaningless!)
– Broc Romanek, CompensationStandards.com
I continue to see so many people citing the SEC’s Regulatory Flexible Agenda as an indication for when the agency will propose and adopt rules. Don’t believe that – it’s not true! As I’ve blogged about before, all kinds of whacky and aspirational stuff makes it into the Reg Flex Agenda, which then winds up as part of the OMB Unified Agenda (in this blog, Keith Bishop explains what the OMB Unified Agenda is). And then the timelines for proposing & adopting rules are rarely accurate.
The internal process at the SEC (and other agencies) is complicated – maybe one day I’ll explain it in detail (eg. pet projects get thrown in that have zero chance of moving; timelines thrown in simply to fill out the form). But trust me, it has NEVER been a reliable source for when things might move at the SEC. But go ahead and keep citing it if it makes you happy – even though it will likely prove you wrong in the end (as it does over and over). I find it funny how the Reg Flex Agenda is now a newsworthy item after being completely ignored for decades.
I mention all this because the latest Reg Flex Agenda is now out and it indicates that adoption of pay ratio, investment managers pay voting disclosures and hedging rules won’t happen until April ’16 (the prior Reg Flex Agenda said October ’15) – with clawback rules being proposed by April ’16. There is no timeline for adopting pay-for-performance rules included since that rulemaking’s comment period is still open. Of course, remember that this is all pulp fiction…