Bloomberg Law
Nov. 15, 2019, 11:00 AM

Silencing the Nun: SEC Aims to Curb Small Investors’ Activism

Emily Chasan
Emily Chasan
Bloomberg News
Saijel Kishan
Saijel Kishan
Bloomberg News

Sister Nora Nash, a Franciscan nun from the Philadelphia area, spent the last 15 years pushing corporations to change their policies on guns, tobacco and fracking. As a shareholder, the sisters’ retirement fund has filed hundreds of proposals at companies from Chevron Corp. to Wells Fargo & Co.

She might not be able to do that kind of activism anymore if the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission goes ahead with a plan to limit proposals from small investors like the fund, which often hold just a few thousand shares out of hundreds of millions. The agency last week proposed higher ownership thresholds for ...