SEC Kicks Off Review of Rules Governing Executive Pay and Perks

The Securities and Exchange Commission is taking initial steps to consider overhauling rules governing disclosures of executive compensation, including banker pay and bonus clawbacks.

The current compensation disclosures are “a Frankenstein patchwork of rules” thanks to myriad updates over the past three decades, SEC Chairman Paul Atkins said in prepared remarks Thursday for a roundtable event on the topic in Washington. “The outcome of our rules is not effective when companies require highly specialized lawyers and compensation consultants to prepare disclosure that the reasonable investor struggles to understand.”

Pay-versus-performance disclosures may be particularly ripe for change.

In a statement last ...