SEC Takes Comments on Dodd-Frank’s Pay vs. Performance Rules

The SEC has reopened its comment period for proposed rules under the Dodd-Frank Act, which requires disclosure of information on relationships between executive compensation a company has paid and its financial performance.

SEC chair Gary Gensler has said the rule would boost transparency and the quality of the executive compensation disclosure.

He said the Commission has “long recognized” how valuable information on executive compensation is for investors.

“In this reopening release, we are considering whether additional performance metrics would better reflect Congress’s intention in the Dodd-Frank Act and would provide shareholders with information they need to evaluate a company’s executive compensation policies,” Gensler said, per the release.

Gensler adds that the SEC proposed rules in 2015 to implement the Dodd-Frank Act’s “pay versus performance” requirement. The new reopening is because of developments since then involving executive compensation platforms.

The release says the new comment period will let people submit more comments, especially those responding to the changes mentioned above. The release says the comment period will be open for 30 days after publication of the release in the Federal Register.

PYMNTS reported recently that the SEC is also cracking down more on crypto firms in a broader way, with investigations going forward on firms including Gemini Trust Co., Voyager Digital and Celsius Network, in addition to Coinbase.

See more: SEC’s Campaign Against Crypto Lending Grows Beyond Coinbase

Coinbase had announced a Coinbase Lend product which purported to offer a 4% annual percentage yield, but it was pulled after the threat of a lawsuit.

Coinbase at the time commented that several other companies already offered a lending product, and “by preventing Coinbase from launching the same thing that other companies already have live, they’re creating an unfair market.”

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong accused the SEC of “really sketchy behavior” over this, accusing it of not telling Coinbase why it was threatening enforcement.

In response, the SEC said Coinbase Lend was a security, though this answer also didn’t come with an explanation.