Corporate Leaders Back Most Financial Reforms

The majority of leaders at Fortune 1000 corporations support many financial regulatory reforms, according to a new survey, but balk at executive pay limitations and shareholder votes on executive compensation.

The survey, commissioned by Makovsky + Company and conducted online by Harris Interactive, found that only an average of 28 percent of the Fortune 1000 executives surveyed believe the reforms would have a negative effect on the U.S. economy.

The survey found that 72 percent of the executives surveyed support regulating credit-rating agencies, while 69 percent agree with proposals to close regulatory loopholes for derivatives and other complex investment packages. In addition, 68 percent support the creation of a consumer protection agency, while 66 percent back the formation of a new regulatory agency to assess risk at financial institutions. Two-thirds of the executives surveyed agree with strengthening bank supervision, while 56 percent support the so-called “Volcker Rule” to prohibit banks from proprietary trading and hedge fund ventures.

The reform that registered the greatest opposition, with 43 percent of executives opposing, was the right of the government and shareholders to influence senior executive compensation. The reform that had the least support, at 50 percent, was the Resolution Fund, a government process for shutting down large troubled firms viewed as “too big to fail.”

The latter two reforms, executives believe, would also have the greatest negative impact on the U.S. economy. With the exception of these two reforms and the Volcker Rule, slightly less than half believe the proposed reforms would have a positive effect on the economy and almost an average of 20 percent believe it will have no effect at all.

The “executive pay” reform, corporate leaders believed, also would have the greatest negative impact on their particular corporation (40 percent) as well as them personally (34 percent).

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