As an investment management company, we place the highest priority on the long-term interests of our clients. We believe that environmental, social, and governance (ESG) considerations in our investments are essential to improving performance. Therefore we incorporate ESG factors into our investment process to ensure responsible investment.
We recognize that by promoting responsible investment, we can contribute to the realization of a sustainable society. This is in line with the concept of "Invest to Help Build a Sustainable Society" which is one of the sustainability priority themes of T＆D Insurance Group.
In order to contribute to a sustainable society as a responsible investor, we signed the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) in March 2012, and are promoting the ESG research and practical use in our investments. The Company's management is committed to responsible investment and is developing a system to promote the commitment.
Followings are our organization and approaches to promote Responsible Investment.
Organization to promote Responsible Investment
The company’s management is responsible for promoting responsible investment, and established a Stewardship Committee, and developed a system for the assignment and training of specialized personnel. The Stewardship Committee formulates specific policies and action plans for responsible investment, and periodically reviews the activities of the committee to ensure continuous improvement.
ESG Integration
We believe that the ability to respond to ESG issues will become an important factor in determining the value of the companies we invest in due to the worsening of environmental and social problems such as climate change and aging society with a low birthrate. In equity investment, we take ESG factors into consideration. We evaluate companies by analyzing not only financial information but also non-financial information including ESG factors. We encourage companies that have ESG issues to make improvements through engagement. We also conduct negative screening from an ESG perspective. In bond investment, we promote investments that take ESG factors into consideration. In corporate bond investment, we analyze non-financial information including ESG factors and conduct engagement with issuers that have ESG issues. For sovereign bond, we invest after evaluating ESG factors in each country.
Engagement
In our company research activities, we conduct engagement in order to aim for enhancing corporate value and promoting sustainable growth from a medium to long term perspective. Depending on the investment strategy, we regularly set themes for engagement that take into account management strategy and ESG, and our investment managers and ESG analysts conduct engagement with companies in line with these themes. If we determine that a company's management strategy or its direction is not in line with sustainable growth, we communicate our views in engagement and keep discussions with the company to ensure that sustainable growth is achieved.
Proxy Voting
We believe that the proxy voting is a means by which shareholders can effectively influence corporate management to enhance the corporate value of the companies they invest in. We established "Guidelines for Proxy Voting" with the best interests of our clients perspective, and we conduct our proxy voting after our own individual scrutiny of the general shareholders' meeting proposals of the companies we invest in, without distinguishing between active and passive investment management.
Participation in Initiatives
We are committed to enhancing the effectiveness of responsible investment through participation in various initiatives, including Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI).