SEC Re-Visits Executive Compensation Clawback Rules
As expected, on October 14, 2021, the SEC re-opened the comment period on proposed rules on listing standards for the recovery of erroneously awarded executive compensation (“Clawback Rules”). The Clawback Rules would implement Section 954 of the Dodd-Frank Act and require that national securities exchanges require disclosure of policies regarding and mandating clawback of compensation under certain circumstances as a listing qualification. The proposed rules were first published in July 2015 (see HERE) and have moved around on the SEC semiannual regulatory agenda from proposed to long-term and back again for years, but finally seem to be moving forward. Although the proposed rule remains unchanged from the July 2015 version, the SEC has added a few questions for comment in its re-opening release.
Background
There are currently existing rules which require the recovery of executive compensation and disclosure of such policies. In particular, Section 304 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (“SOX”) requires the CEO and CFO to reimburse
