SEC Chair Gensler Testifies Before U.S. House Financial Services Subcommittee
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Wachtell Lipton Discusses Addressing Market Volatility and Risk in M&A Agreements
Significant volatility continues to disrupt the equity markets, with the major stock indexes swinging multiple percentage points often on a daily basis. Inflation, rising interest rates, the Ukraine crisis, continuing effects of Covid-19, lasting supply chain issues, a difficult regulatory environment, and uncertainty regarding the global and U.S. economies have had an undeniable impact on the pace of M&A activity so far in 2022. While the opening months of 2022 have witnessed a number of…
The Causes and Consequences of Repurchasing Shares
Corporate payouts have reached record levels. Over the past half-century, publicly-held U.S. firms have more than tripled inflation-adjusted dividends, while real share repurchase values have ballooned from $5 billion in 1971 to almost $1 trillion in 2018 and become the dominant form of payout. Given the magnitude of these distributions, it is not surprising that they have garnered the attention of researchers and the skepticism of politicians, who have suggested that buybacks are used in…
Debevoise & Plimpton Discusses SEC Guidance on Ukraine Disclosure Obligations
On May 3, 2022, the Division of Corporation Finance (“CorpFin”) of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) provided guidance to companies of their disclosure obligations with respect to the direct or indirect impact that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the international response have had or may have on their business (the “Guidance”).[1] As on other occasions, the SEC accompanied the Guidance with a sample letter outlining the questions the SEC may ask…
SEC Chair Gensler Talks Security-Based Swaps Market to ISDA
Thank you for the kind introduction. It’s good to be back with the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) again.
As is customary, I’d like to note that I’m not speaking on behalf of my fellow Commissioners or the SEC staff.
Swaps emerged in the 1980s to provide producers and merchants with a way to lock in the price of commodities, interest rates, and currency rates. Our economy benefits from a well-functioning swaps market, as…
SEC Chair Gensler Speaks at Conference on Financial Market Regulation
The field of economic research is central to our work at the SEC. It helps shape every aspect of our policymaking, from the early design phase to the proposing releases to the consideration of public comments to the adopting releases. It helps us determine the size of fines for enforcement actions. It provides important context for every one of our meetings. I look forward to hearing more about the presentations from today’s conference.
As is…
Does Stakeholder Outrage Affect Executive Compensation?
One-third of S&P 1500 CEOs reduced their base salary in 2020 as the onset of the coronavirus pandemic caused widespread economic disruption. These pay cuts were often accompanied by press releases that emphasized notions of CEOs “leading from the front,” “being all in this together,” and “sharing the pain” of the pandemic with employees. In a new article, we document that a more complex adjustment to CEO pay occurred during this time. In a…
Hedge Funds Versus Private Equity in Hostile Restructurings
July 31, 2020, was an ill-fated day for financier Dan Kamensky. It began on a bright note, as his billion-dollar hedge fund stood to profit from a possible settlement in Neiman Marcus’ bankruptcy.[1] Not only had the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors on which he served reached a tentative settlement from which they would receive shares in one of Neiman’s valuable subsidiaries, but it looked like Kamensky’s hedge fund would be in the exclusive…
Deep Learning Mutual-Fund Risk Assessment and Performance
The ripple effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have increased market volatility and even caused markets to close in some countries. These fluctuations substantially affected mutual funds, leading to fire sales of their assets and SEC scrutiny of their risk management. Investors responded quickly and withdrew more than $40 billion from mutual funds in the first two months of the pandemic. With nearly half of the households in the United States having their pension plans and…
SEC Chair Gensler Speaks on U.S. Bond Market
Thank you. It’s good to be with City Week again. As is customary, I’d like to note that my views are my own, and I am not speaking on behalf of the Commission or SEC staff.
Since we are in London (at least virtually), I wanted to note that this year marks the 60th anniversary of the first James Bond film. I know there are various commemorations of this storied franchise going on in the…