A recent online survey of almost 300 Society members regarding their company's Rule 10b5-1 practices revealed that 67% of corporate boards review their company's insider trading policy. Additional noteworthy findings include:
- 83% of respondent companies don't require employees to sell through 10b5-1 plans.
- Virtually all companies that have 10b5-1 plans allow some - if not all - employees to sell shares during blackout periods.
- 84% of companies have a mandatory "cooling-off" period once the plan is signed.
- The most common "cooling-off" period is 30 days (41%). Only 16% have no mandatory
waiting period.
- One-third of companies surveyed have publicly disclosed the adoption of 10b5-1 plans.
Society President & CEO Darla Stuckey remarked:
"Increasingly, 10b5-1 plans and issuers' insider trading policies and
practices are coming under greater scrutiny by investors. The Society
undertook this survey to provide a deeper understanding of companies'
policies with a view towards developing benchmarks and best practices
for boards and corporate secretaries.We were pleased to find that most
boards are involved in this important issue."
See the Society's release, and look for more analysis of the findings in next week's Society Alert.