Apple Inc. shareowners have supported a proposal by the nation's largest public pension fund that advises the company to adopt a majority vote standard for board candidates in uncontested elections.
Henry “Hank” Morris, chief political adviser to former state Comptroller Alan Hevesi, has been sentenced to up to four years in prison for his involvement in a pay-to-play kickback scheme over pension abuses.
House State Government chairman Mike Cherry has said he aims to prohibit the state government's pension funds from paying well-connected middlemen, also known as placement-agents.
California Controller John Chiang has said he is sponsoring two
new bills in the state Legislature with the goal of tightening ethics
requirements for CalPERS and CalSTRS.
The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) is suing ex-Lehman executives and underwriters, saying they hid Lehman’s exposure to subprime loans when they sold the California public pension fund about $700 million in bonds.
The US computer-based investment branch of the French AXA group will pay $242 million in compensation and fines for allegedly concealing a major program glitch.
Motivated by the need for greater transparency in the municipal bond market, the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board is looking into ways to broaden issuer disclosure of the standing of their pension plans.
The attorney general alleges that despite its actions, Countrywide Financial Corporation continued to misinform investors that it maintained stringent mortgage loan underwriting standards that differentiated it from its competitors and other subprime lenders.
The Securities and Exchange Commission has adopted rules concerning shareholder approval of executive compensation and "golden parachute" arrangements.
Illinois now joins other states targeted by the SEC as the regulator demands greater financial disclosure and transparency from pension funds around the country.
In the face of escalating fiscal problems around the country, governors are upping their rhetoric on pension reform in an effort to tackle heightened costs.