The Advisors' Blog

– Broc Romanek

Here’s the intro from this Davis Polk blog by Ning Chiu:

A group of senators have written this letter to SEC Acting Chair Piwowar opposing any delay in the implementation of the pay ratio rules. The senators are “extremely troubled” by Commissioner Piwowar’s decision to seek additional comments on the rule, and his directive to the staff to reconsider the rule’s implementation, which we previously discussed.

The senators note that the statute requiring the rule was passed nearly seven years ago, and during the proposal stage the SEC received more than 270,000 letters, including many from investors in support of having the information as a way to assess companies’ approaches to executive compensation and human capital. The senators argue that the disclosure helps investors evaluate a CEO’s value creation, and facilitates “better checks and balances” against insiders “paying themselves runaway compensation.” The letter goes on to cite the oft-quoted statistic that CEO pay at large companies has risen 997% from 1978 to 2014 while the compensation of non-supervisory employees rose about 11%.