The SEC wants to understand the relationship between what ISS recommends and how institutional investors actually vote. ISS says the government's demand for identifiable voting records goes too far. Behind the subpoena fight is a larger corporate-governance question: Who should know how shareholders vote, and how much oversight is necessary to ensure that proxy advisers and investment managers are fulfilling their responsibilities?

On July 9, 2026, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued guidance that could change how activist investing works in America. The guidance says that certain investors who fund activist campaigns must be identified in regulatory filings rather than remaining behind the scenes.¹ At first glance, this may sound like a technical regulatory update. It is not. The SEC’s guidance goes to the heart of a simple question: If investors are trying to influence the fut