BNY Mellon Shareowner Services White Paper Examines Challenges for Equity Issuers Resulting from Recent Regulatory Changes

Paper highlights compliance, complexity and cost implications of new regulations

News provided by

Sep 28, 2010, 07:59 ET

JERSEY CITY, N.J., Sept. 28, /PRNewswire/ -- BNY Mellon Shareowner Services today announced the availability of a white paper outlining some of the major challenges for equity issuers resulting from recent regulatory changes.

Entitled "Compliance, Complexity and Cost Challenges: The Impact of Regulatory Reform on Corporate Issuers," the white paper emphasizes the broad scope of recent regulatory changes, and outlines some of the significant effects these changes will have on how most public companies will conduct their business.

Noting that the Dodd-Frank Act — the most sweeping regulatory overhaul since the Great Depression — has implications for all public companies, the paper points to corporate governance and executive compensation as critical aspects of the Act. The paper also discusses the shareholder communications implications of the SEC's recently issued Concept Release on the U.S. Proxy System; reviews the changes in cost-basis record keeping and reporting taking effect at the beginning of next year under the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008; and recaps changes in tax withholding laws and escheatment practices being enforced by a number of states.

"Equity issuers are facing a broad array of challenges resulting from increased regulatory oversight, rising levels of shareholder activism, and efforts on the part of governments at many levels to find new sources of revenue," said Samir Pandiri, chief executive officer of BNY Mellon Shareowner Services. "Our new white paper has been prepared as part of our extensive efforts to keep clients abreast of how these changes will impact their business, and provide recommendations on how to manage their cost of compliance and regulatory and compliance risk."

More information on "Compliance, Complexity and Cost Challenges: The Impact of Regulatory Reform on Corporate Issuers" is available at http://www.bnymellon.com/foresight/pdf/regulatoryreform.pdf.

BNY Mellon Shareowner Services is a world-class provider of corporate equity solutions for more than 2,100 institutional clients representing 35 million shareowner accounts worldwide, and administers employee stock plans with more than 2.7 million participants. BNY Mellon Shareowner Services is part of BNY Mellon's Issuer Services group, which is also a leading provider of corporate trust services, serving more than $11 trillion in outstanding debt, and is the market leader in depository receipts, with more than 1,300 sponsored programs. More information about Shareowner Services is available at www.bnymellon.com/shareownerservices.

BNY Mellon is a global financial services company focused on helping clients manage and service their financial assets, operating in 36 countries and serving more than 100 markets. BNY Mellon is a leading provider of financial services for institutions, corporations and high-net-worth individuals, providing superior asset management and wealth management, asset servicing, issuer services, clearing services and treasury services through a worldwide client-focused team. It has $21.8 trillion in assets under custody and administration and $1.0 trillion in assets under management, services $11.6 trillion in outstanding debt and processes global payments averaging $1.5 trillion per day. BNY Mellon is the corporate brand of The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (NYSE: BK). Additional information is available at www.bnymellon.com.

SOURCE BNY Mellon