Lawmakers ask Clayton to Revisit Board Diversity Initiatives, Consider New Rule

Two groups of lawmakers wrote to SEC Chairman Jay Clayton urging a renewed focus on requiring companies to reference board diversity in their regulatory disclosures. Earlier this year, large firms, including State Street, went public with their efforts to increase and encourage diversity on boards of directors in the corporate sector. Most recently, BlackRock voted for eight proposals to encourage U.S. and Canadian firms to adopt policies boosting their boards’ diversity, Reuters reported.  In one lawmaker’s request Clayton was asked to reconsider his predecessor’s review of proxy statement disclosure rules regarding diversity of board nominees while the other proposal asked Clayton to “go beyond mere monitoring compliance and work with your fellow commissioners to propose a new corporate board diversity rule subject to public input.”