SEC Issues No-Action for Automatic Voting by Retail Shareholders

This is massive, yet not many folks are talking about it. In September 2025, the Securities and Exchange Commission quietly approved automatic voting for our retail investors through a “no-action” letter. The SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance told ExxonMobil that its staff would not recommend enforcement if the company launched a program allowing retail shareholders to cast standing voting instructions. Meaning: retail shareholders can now automatically set their voting preferences. It may sound boring or too technical to matter, but this decision could reshape how millions of individual investors take part in corporate governance across the U.S.