Title: Comments that count: Corporate influence in SEC governance rulemaking

Speaker: Qiaozhi (George) Ye, Assistant Professor, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics

Time: 10:00-11:30, May 8th, 2026 (Friday)

Venue: Room 1008, Mingde Business Building (Zhongguancun Campus)

Language: English/Chinese

ABSTRACT:

We investigate the motivations, effectiveness, and shareholder-value implications of public firms’ attempts to influence the SEC’s governance-related rulemaking. Our analysis leverages large language model-assisted text analysis and citation tracking to examine comment letters submitted during the rulemaking process. We find that public firms predominantly submit pro-management comment letters and that these firms tend to exhibit weaker governance characteristics. Notably, public firms’ letters are more likely to be cited in final rules and lead to material changes aligned with their positions—particularly when advocating for pro-management changes. Moreover, public firms whose pro-management letters are cited in pro-management material changes experience significantly negative abnormal stock returns upon the release of the final rule. Together, these findings suggest that public firms leverage the rulemaking process to protect entrenched managerial interests at the expense of shareholder value.

SHORT BIOGRAPHY:

Qiaozhi Ye is an Assistant Professor at the Dishui Lake Advanced Finance Institute, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics. His primary research lies in corporate governance, institutional investors, and financial regulation. His current research examines how voting behavior, information disclosure, and policy interactions in capital markets shape corporate decisions and resource allocation, with a particular focus on the role of the asset management industry in corporate governance. He is also interested in the intersection of artificial intelligence and finance, as well as sustainable finance.