When Goldman Sachs Group Inc filed its shareholder proxy earlier this month, it was free of a proposal that has become increasingly popular among corporate governance activists: a demand for more disclosure about lobbying.
Goldman's big Wall Street rivals can't say the same. JPMorgan Chase & Co, Bank of America Corp, Citigroup Inc and Morgan Stanley all face lobbying-disclosure proposals this year. Some activist shareholders want the banks to be more transparent about their lobbying objectives, disclose more about the trade groups they belong to and say how much money they spend to influence policy.
Goldman persuaded the Needmor Fund - which had sponsored a lobbying-disclosure proposal on the investment bank's proxy in 2013 - not to try again this year. Goldman's lead director, James Schiro, went on a tour to hear the views of groups of shareholders after taking the role last year and sought to work out compromises, people who attended the meetings told Reuters.
