A group of more than 60 institutional investors, investment firms, and investor groups representing approximately $300 billion in assets submitted a letter to President-elect Barack Obama asking him to support shareholder rights, according to FinancialWeek.
The letter specifies that within Obama’s first 100 days in office, to reverse a five-year “patter” at the Securities and Exchange Commission of blocking shareholders from using proxy resolutions to request better disclosure of the financial risks that companies face.
The group broke down the areas of interest into marketplace, social, or environmental concerns.
The Office of the Comptroller of the City of New York, shareholder advocates Robert A.G. Monks and Amy L. Domini; Calvert Group, Domini Social Investments, Trillium Asset Management Corporation, Boston Common Asset Management, and Catholic Healthcare West, among others. Endorsing the letter were the Investor Network on Climate Risk, the Investor Environmental Health Network, and the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility.
The group argues that the SEC has “gradually been closing the door to important shareholder concerns’ and that shareholder proxy requests that had been allowed in previous years asking for better disclosure of financial risks to companies have been stumped.
Cheryl Smith, co-CEO at Trillium Asset Management, said that the protection and enhancement of the rights of investors “improves the stability of the financial system as a whole.”