TheCorporateCounsel.net

Yesterday, the SEC issued proposed amendments to Rule 10b5-1 and related rules imposing new conditions & disclosure requirements for 10b5-1 plans and securities transactions by companies and insiders. Here’s a copy of the163-page proposing release & the two-page fact sheet on the proposed rules.  The SEC’s press release also provides a good summary of the proposal:

The proposed amendments to Rule 10b5-1 would update the requirements for the affirmative defense, including imposing a cooling off period before trading could commence under a plan, prohibiting overlapping trading plans, and limiting single-trade plans to one trading plan per twelve month period. In addition, the proposed rules would require directors and officers to furnish written certifications that they are not aware of any material nonpublic information when they enter into the plans and expand the existing good faith requirement for trading under Rule 10b5-1 plans.

The amendments also would elicit more comprehensive disclosure about issuers’ policies and procedures related to insider trading and their practices around the timing of options grants and the release of material nonpublic information. A new table would report any options granted within 14 days of the release of material nonpublic information and the market price of the underlying securities the trading day before and the trading day after the disclosure of the material non-public information. Insiders that report on Forms 4 or 5 would have to indicate via a new checkbox whether the reported transactions were made pursuant to a Rule 10b5-1(c) or other trading plan. Finally, gifts of securities that were previously permitted to be reported on Form 5 would be required to be reported on Form 4.

For the most part, the proposed changes to Rule 10b5-1 track the recommendations made by the SEC’s Investor Advisory Committee, but the proposal does not include Form 8-K & proxy disclosure requirements relating to corporate & insider 10b5-1 plans that the IAC advocated. The portions of the proposed rules addressing disclosure of the timing of option grants follow up on the Staff’s recent guidance on accounting for “spring loaded” awards.  Finally, in what’s become a very unusual event in recent years, the commissioners unanimously voted to approve the issuance of the rule proposal.

– John Jenkins