On September 29, 2021, by a vote of 4-1, the U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed to expand the information that
mutual funds, closed-end funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and
other registered investment companies must disclose about their
proxy votes.1 Among other things, the proposed rules would require
funds to tie the description of each voting matter to the
issuer's form of proxy and categorize each voting matter. In
addition, any person who files Form 13F (known as an
"institutional investment manager") would be required to
file Form N-PX to begin reporting proxy votes for the first time
but limited to say-on-pay votes. The SEC says the changes would
help investors to identify votes of interest and compare voting
records, thereby increasing transparency. Public companies,
institutional shareholders, funds, and investment managers all
would be affected and will have potentially different views and
interests as the rulemaking proceeds.
