The WSJ proposes attacking the problem at the roots, instead:
The fact the proxy advisory firms have benefited greatly from SEC regulation while somehow also remaining free of SEC regulation has certainly raised eyebrows. And there's an appetite at the SEC to conduct oversight of these firms that the commission has done so much to empower.
Conflicts of interest exist in many aspects of life and business, and the key is how they're managed. But newspapers—which report on their advertisers—don't benefit from a government purchase mandate, to pick one example. Proxy advisers get business steered their way by government.
Rather than regulate these firms, the better policy is to repeal the SEC rules and guidance that favor these firms. Let investors decide which fund managers they can trust to look out for their interests. And let fund managers decide which consultants deserve their business.
Kindly go read the whole thing.
