{"id":10033,"date":"2017-01-25T18:43:03","date_gmt":"2017-01-25T23:43:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/test.greenmoney.com\/2025\/?page_id=8863"},"modified":"2018-03-07T22:51:13","modified_gmt":"2018-03-08T03:51:13","slug":"us-sif-statement-on-updated-erisa-guidance-on-shareholder-rights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.greenmoney.com\/2025\/us-sif-statement-on-updated-erisa-guidance-on-shareholder-rights\/","title":{"rendered":"US SIF Statement on Updated ERISA Guidance on Shareholder Rights"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On December 29, 2016, the Department of Labor (DOL) rescinded Interpretive Bulletin 2008-2 relating to the Exercise of Shareholder Rights and replaced it with Interpretive Bulletin 2016-01 (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.dol.gov\/newsroom\/releases\/ebsa\/ebsa20161228\">www.dol.gov\/newsroom\/releases\/ebsa\/ebsa20161228<\/a>) which reinstates the language of Interpretive Bulletin 94-2 with some modifications. US SIF supports this change as IB 2008-2 was not only inconsistent with prior guidance, but may have discouraged ERISA plan fiduciaries from exercising their shareholder rights. Today\u2019s guidance appropriately notes the positive role fiduciaries play through the exercise of shareholder rights. Additionally, this guidance also reinforces the language of <strong>IB 2015-1<\/strong> <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><sup>[1]<\/sup><\/span> on economically targeted investments which clarified that environmental, social and governance (ESG) impacts can be intrinsic to the market value of an investment.<br \/>\n<!-- \/212189234\/inarticle --><\/p>\n<div id='div-gpt-ad-1622053269469-0' class=\"ad-float-left\" style='height:250px; width:300px;'>\n<script>\ngoogletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1622053269469-0'); });\n<\/script>\n<\/div>\n<p>Lisa Woll, CEO of US SIF: The Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment noted that <em>\u201cFiduciaries have been engaging portfolio companies on environmental and social matters in a productive fashion for years. Institutional investors are increasingly engaging companies on ESG issues to address risks and opportunities. The US SIF Foundation\u2019s 2016 Report on US Sustainable, Responsible and Impact Investing Trends (<\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ussif.org\/trends\"><em>www.ussif.org\/trends<\/em><\/a><em>) found that 225 institutional investors or money managers with combined assets of $2.56 trillion filed or co-filed shareholder resolutions on environmental, social and governance issues at publicly traded companies from 2014 through 2016. We believe shareholder engagement is consistent with the fiduciary duties of prudence and the goal of increasing long-term risk-adjusted returns. We commend the Department of Labor for its leadership on this issue.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<h3>Key points made in the new guidance and in the DOL news release include:<\/h3>\n<p>\u2022 The DOL reinforced the legitimacy and importance of investors\u2019 engagement with their portfolio holdings noting that IB 2008-2 is out of step with important domestic and international trends in investment management. The guidance removes perceived impediments to the prudent management of plans\u2019 rights as shareholders and encourages fiduciaries to manage those rights in the best interest of plan participants and beneficiaries.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 The updated guidance clarifies how a plan may consider ESG issues in proxy voting and other shareholder engagement activities.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 In its comments, the DOL recognizes the pervasiveness of US publicly-traded stocks in ERISA plan investment portfolios, both direct holdings and through pooled investment funds, including index funds and that this is another factor that contributes to the importance of proxy voting and shareholder engagement practices.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 The DOL noted that if there is a problem identified with a portfolio company\u2019s management, selling the stock and finding a replacement investment may not be a prudent solution for a plan fiduciary. Often, engagement with the company is the prudent course of action.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Issues appropriate for shareholder engagement include governance structures and practices, the nature of long-term business plans including plans on climate change preparedness and sustainability, the corporation&#8217;s workforce practices, and policies and practices to address environmental or social factors that have an impact on shareholder value, among other issues.<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/212189234\/InArticle002 --><\/p>\n<div id='div-gpt-ad-1622053479374-0' style='height:250px; width:300px; float:left; padding-right:20px;'>\n<script>\ngoogletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1622053479374-0'); });\n<\/script>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u2022 Companies themselves are seeking more engagement as a way of understanding and responding to their shareholders\u2019 views. There have also been market events that were catalysts for the growth of shareholder engagement. The financial crisis of 2008, for example, exposed some of the pitfalls of shareholder inattention to corporate governance and highlighted the merits of shareholders taking a more engaged role with the companies.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Article Note:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>[1] <a href=\"https:\/\/www.federalregister.gov\/documents\/2015\/10\/26\/2015-27146\/interpretive-bulletin-relating-to-the-fiduciary-standard-under-erisa-in-considering-economically\">https:\/\/www.federalregister.gov\/documents\/2015\/10\/26\/2015-27146\/interpretive-bulletin-relating-to-the-fiduciary-standard-under-erisa-in-considering-economically<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On December 29, 2016, the Department of Labor (DOL) rescinded Interpretive Bulletin 2008-2 relating to the Exercise of Shareholder Rights and replaced it with Interpretive Bulletin 2016-01 (www.dol.gov\/newsroom\/releases\/ebsa\/ebsa20161228) which reinstates the language of Interpretive Bulletin 94-2 with some modifications. US SIF supports this change as IB 2008-2 was not only inconsistent with prior guidance, but [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[98],"tags":[125,136],"class_list":["post-10033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-february-2017","tag-additional-articles","tag-impact-investing"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>US SIF Statement on Updated ERISA Guidance on Shareholder Rights - Green Money Old version<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"US SIF Statement on Updated ERISA Guidance on Shareholder Rights - Green Money Old version\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On December 29, 2016, the Department of Labor (DOL) rescinded Interpretive Bulletin 2008-2 relating to the Exercise of Shareholder Rights and replaced it with Interpretive Bulletin 2016-01 (www.dol.gov\/newsroom\/releases\/ebsa\/ebsa20161228) which reinstates the language of Interpretive Bulletin 94-2 with some modifications. US SIF supports this change as IB 2008-2 was not only inconsistent with prior guidance, but [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/test.greenmoney.com\/2025\/us-sif-statement-on-updated-erisa-guidance-on-shareholder-rights\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Green Money Old version\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cliff.feigenbaum\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-01-25T23:43:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-03-08T03:51:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/test.greenmoney.com\/2025\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/GreenMoney-30th-Logo.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1201\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"251\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Michelle Mosser\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@cliffgmj\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@cliffgmj\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Michelle Mosser\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/test.greenmoney.com\/2025\/us-sif-statement-on-updated-erisa-guidance-on-shareholder-rights\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/test.greenmoney.com\/2025\/us-sif-statement-on-updated-erisa-guidance-on-shareholder-rights\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Michelle Mosser\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/test.greenmoney.com\/2025\/#\/schema\/person\/f8ac105643390eb0d657dfac9c1a72ba\"},\"headline\":\"US SIF Statement on Updated ERISA Guidance on Shareholder Rights\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-01-25T23:43:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-03-08T03:51:13+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/test.greenmoney.com\/2025\/us-sif-statement-on-updated-erisa-guidance-on-shareholder-rights\/\"},\"wordCount\":561,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/test.greenmoney.com\/2025\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Additional Articles\",\"Impact Investing\"],\"articleSection\":[\"February 2017 - Millenials, Money &amp; 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