Collective Voice
NYSE Euronext is advocating for issuers and investors on a range of important policy proposals.
As the markets and the economy emerge from crisis mode, NYSE Euronext (NYX) is playing a crucial role in helping to rebuild investor trust and confidence on Wall Street, in the regulatory system and the global business community. The exchange group is taking the unprecedented step of working as an advocate on behalf of listed companies and the investing public. “We are committed to being a thought leader in financial-markets policy and a public advocate for both the companies listed on our exchanges and investors,” says NYSE Euronext CEO Duncan Niederauer. “We view serving as a proxy for the more than 100 million public participants in our capital markets as both a privilege and an obligation. At this critical juncture, there’s a need to restore trust, and we want to be part of the solution.”
“I find the exchange of opinions via the CEO surveys both positive and helpful.”
—Patti S. Hart
CEO and President, IGT
Niederauer says NYSE Euronext — with nearly 6,500 listed companies, including 2,500 in the U.S. that employ more than 30 million American workers — is uniquely positioned to advocate on behalf of companies with a significant stake in the global and U.S. workforce. Its global footprint strategically positions it within corporate and government circles to actively address topics such as international accounting standards and regulatory harmonization. For example, NYSE Euronext has sent numerous recommendations to regulators and lawmakers on behalf of its issuer community, articulating companies’ views on existing or proposed rules and regulations, particularly those designed to make markets more fair, transparent and efficient. It has actively encouraged the relaxation of the most onerous elements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, prodded the SEC to accept IFRS accounting standards as an alternative to GAAP, written comment letters to the SEC on behalf of non-U.S. issuers to maintain the allotted time periods for filing financial statements in English, worked with the Council of Institutional Investors on the proxy-voting issue and led the dialogue on mutual recognition of comparable regulatory regimes in foreign jurisdictions.
“The Exchange has been particularly helpful in providing this voice in such areas as the acceptance of IFRS accounting standards and general corporate-governance policy,” says Veolia Environnement SA (VE) Chairman and CEO Henri Proglio. “As the worldwide reference for environmental services listed on Euronext Paris and the NYSE, Veolia Environnement is committed to full compliance within both U.S. and European regulatory frameworks. The NYSE is an important resource for us to stay well informed of U.S. policy while also providing a consolidated and representative voice for Veolia and other European listed companies to present their views with a unified approach.”
Richard Simonson, Nokia Corp. (NOK) executive vice president and CFO, agrees: “Individual companies, even large ones like Nokia, don’t have all the time and resources to be completely active on day-to-day, week-to-week important regulatory, legislative and trading issues that affect us, even though we have opinions on them. So the collective voice of the NYSE and its gathering of those views and doing some of the work our staff would have to do is really valuable. If it doesn’t happen at an entity like the NYSE, the politicians and regulators reach the wrong conclusion, that companies don’t have a view, or they reach wrong conclusions without the proper input.”
