Analysis and Implications of the New Proxy Voting Rules

The SEC issued two rules that will affect corporate governance in the US. The first requires all investment companies to include in their registration statements a disclosure of the procedures and policies they will use in voting on corporate proxies. The second requires investment companies to publish all of their actual proxy votes. This report describes many of the policy and procedure disclosures required by the rules and discusses the implications for corporate governance and shareholder participation in corporate decision-making.