Capping an extraordinary year defined, in part, by social strife and social justice protests, Nasdaq—moved by diversity requirements that proxy solicitation firms, banks and large asset managers have set in place—now seeks to promote its own brand of diversity mandate. Earlier this month, the exchange requested the Securities and Exchange Commission to consider a proposal requiring Nasdaq-listed companies to be more inclusive in terms of the makeup of their boards of directors.

As has been reported in Corporate Counsel, Nasdaq is asking the SEC to compel these companies to seat at least one self-identifying female and one self-identifying Black or African American, Hispanic or Latinx, Asian Native American or LGBTQX director on their corporate boards. Likewise, if adopted by the SEC, Nasdaq’s proposed rule would require issuers to report data on board diversity. The idea behind this push is that by bringing in business and financial experts with different backgrounds, listed companies will benefit from a greater diversity of ideas, avoid “group-think” and, ultimately, ensure better oversight.

This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.

To view this content, please continue to their sites.

Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Why am I seeing this?

LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law are third party online distributors of the broad collection of current and archived versions of ALM's legal news publications. LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law customers are able to access and use ALM's content, including content from the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, Legaltech News, The New York Law Journal, and Corporate Counsel, as well as other sources of legal information.

For questions call 1-877-256-2472 or contact us at [email protected]