shareholder rights

The Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday approved a measure that gives institutional shareholders a vote on executive pay at large corporations, part of regulators' efforts to give investors greater say over top-level salaries that have been described as excessive.

How much power should shareholders have when it comes to running a company? Most corporate boards pay little attention to shareholders, but a new rule passed by the SEC may change that, allowing the people who actually own a company more input into how it is run.

In a clear win for the shareholders rights movement, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced Thursday that it was changing federal proxy rules to make it easier for companies' shareholders to nominate and elect directors to their boards.

Nowhere are the rights of shareholders more disrespected than at publicly traded investment banks. Wall Street amply demonstrates that the interests of mutual funds and other institutional investors are hardly at the top of their list of concerns. These banks still think of themselves as private...