Almost half a decade after the onset of the financial crisis, populist sentiment and the resulting political environment continue to fuel stricter regulation of executive and director compensation, with the latest wave in Europe including substantive restrictions on compensation in the financial services industry and “say-on-pay” initiatives (i.e., initiatives providing for shareholder approval of compensation). This post describes these recent European compensation developments, namely:

• The so-called “banker bonus cap” – substantive limits on the amount of variable compensation that can be paid to certain employees at financial institutions; and
• Say-on-pay developments in the E.U. and Switzerland.

…continue reading: European Compensation Developments: Financial Institutions and Beyond

This year, the practice of activist hedge funds engaged in proxy contests offering special compensation schemes to their dissident director nominees has increased and become even more egregious. While the terms of these schemes vary, the general thrust is that, if elected, the dissident directors would receive large payments, in some cases in the millions of dollars, if the activist’s desired goals are met within the specified near-term deadlines.

These special compensation arrangements pose a number of threats, including:

…continue reading: Bylaw Protection against Dissident Director Conflict/Enrichment Schemes

The Conference Board, NASDAQ OMX and NYSE Euronext jointly released the 2013 edition of Director Compensation and Board Practices, a benchmarking study with more than 150 corporate governance data points searchable by company size (measurable by revenue and asset value) and 20 industrial sectors.

The report is based on a survey of public companies registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation, Stanford University’s Rock Center for Corporate Governance, the National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI), the Shareholder Forum and Compliance Week also endorsed the survey by distributing it to their members and readers.

The following are the major findings from the 2013 edition of the study:

…continue reading: The 2013 Director Compensation and Board Practices Report

Current views regarding the proper pay plan design to achieve pay for performance vary. This post discusses the three dimensions of pay for performance, demonstrates how to measure them using historical pay data, and presents a simple pay plan that achieves perfect pay for performance (PP4P) using annual grants of performance shares. It also highlights pay practices that weaken pay for performance and offers recommendations for directors to deepen their understanding of pay-for-performance issues.

…continue reading: Achieving Pay for Performance

A recent opinion of the Delaware Chancery Court, Seinfeld v. Slager, [1] addresses the legal standard applicable to directors’ decisions about their own pay under Delaware law, an important topic as to which there is little prior law. In an opinion by Vice Chancellor Glasscock, the Court held that a derivative claim alleging that directors breached their fiduciary duties by granting themselves excessive compensation survived a motion to dismiss. [2] In so concluding, the Court also found that the directors’ action did not have the protection of the business judgment rule and was instead subject to “entire fairness” review.

The Court’s decision to require “entire fairness” review means that the claim of excessive compensation could proceed to a full evidentiary trial on the merits. Under Delaware law, a court will not second-guess business judgments of directors if the directors acted in good faith, exercised due care and were not conflicted in the matter. When the business judgment rule does not apply, the judgments may be subject to heightened scrutiny under the entire fairness standard. To meet this standard, the directors must demonstrate that both the process undertaken by directors and the amount of their compensation are fair to the company.

…continue reading: Delaware Case Raises Question About Structuring Director Compensation