The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s newly formed Investor Advisory Committee Tuesday announced the formation of three subcommittees, which will focus on investor education, investor protection, and shareholder voting and corporate governance.

The investor education subcommittee, chaired by Dallas Salisbury, president and CEO, Employee Benefit Research Institute, plans to focus on matters related to financial literacy, the efficacy of layered educational resources that may permit investors to access information at varying levels of detail, the ways that issuers and boards of directors communicate with investors, and the types of technology that can be utilized for education.

The ‘investor as purchaser’ subcommittee, chaired by Mercer Bullard, founder and president of Fund Democracy, Inc., and associate professor of law at the University of Mississippi School of Law, expects to examine the needs of investors when they purchase specific products (such as investment funds) and services (brokerage, investment advisory, and financial planning). This subcommittee also will consider the fiduciary duty owed to investors by those who provide investment advice, as well as issues related to pre-sale and other disclosure, intermediary fees and compensation practices, arbitration, and technology.

The subcommittee on shareholder issues, chaired by Stephen Davis, executive director of Yale School for Management’s Millstein Center for Corporate Governance, and board member of Hermes Equity Ownership Service, intends to review proxy solicitation and disclosure issues, proxy voting (including the role of proxy advisory firms), majority voting, Regulation FD, executive compensation practices, the responsibilities of shareholders, international issues, and technology related to shareholder communications and voting.

“The committee has identified three important and timely broad subject areas to delve into, and the commission looks forward to receiving its perspectives,” said SEC chairman, Mary Schapiro. “Investor views are integral to the SEC’s mission, and the work of these subcommittees will greatly inform the SEC’s regulatory agenda.”

IE