Webinar: Introduction for Service Providers
A recent webinar focused on the expansion of the Aotearoa New Zealand Stewardship Code to include investment service providers as signatories, in a move that reflects the strong growth of stewardship in this country.
You can watch the webinar below, or read the following summary:
Introducing the Stewardship Code for service providers
Sue Walker, Senior Manager Responsible Investing at Harbour Asset Management (a Code Signatory), introduced stewardship and the Stewardship Code, summarising how it gives investors a clear framework for using their influence to steer companies they invest in on critical environment, social and governance risk. Service providers are a critical part of the ecosystem and play a key role in helping us fulfil our stewardship responsibilities. This is why expanding the Code to include service providers is a fantastic step forward.
Service providers can include financial advisors, investment consultants, proxy advisors, and data and research providers. Harbour uses two key service providers for:
Proxy advice
Data and research
Screening services
Modern slavery scorecards.
Harbour work closely with service providers and it’s great to see them now able to become a signatory to the Code. By doing so, service providers can better understand what asset managers and owners need, improving the data and insights provided, and helping everyone in the ecosystem to speak the same language.
Service Provider case study: Ethical Investing NZ
A key difference with Ethical Investing NZ is that most of their clients come to them for advice and expertise on ethical investing. They therefore need to continue being a leader in this space, which includes ensuring the fund managers they work with take long term stewardship seriously.
Ethical Investing NZ signed up to the Code because their priority is to create long-term value for future generations, ensure the efficient management of capital while considering the best interests of clients and beneficiaries, and contribute to sustainable outcomes for the environment and economy.
The Code framework helps them to articulate their approach to sustainability. And importantly, it holds them to account because of the reporting requirements. Ethical Investing NZ see the reporting as an opportunity to bring clarity around what they do and how they do it, despite being a small team with limited resources.
Service Provider case study: Glass Lewis
Glass Lewis was set up to support investors’ stewardship activities. Investor stewardship is growing globally, driven by regulation, frameworks and client demand, but it takes time and expertise.
Some institutional investors have teams dedicated to stewardship, while others have very limited stewardship resources or are potentially just a single person. No matter where an investor sits on that spectrum, Glass Lewis aim to make stewardship easier for investors, enabling their limited resources to go further.
Glass Lewis have joined the Aotearoa New Zealand Stewardship Code to show support for the development of best stewardship practices globally and locally and align with the most thoughtful stewards of shareholder capital.
In terms of practical tips and strategies, the good news is that service provider signatory reporting is less onerous than asset owners and fund managers because no securities are held. If you are a member of any of the other 20+ stewardship codes globally, there is substantial overlap between them and the NZ Code so you may already be more compliant than you think.
Interested in becoming a service provider signatory?
For more information about becoming a service provider signatory, contact Jackson Rowland, Director of the Aotearoa New Zealand Stewardship Code, at Jackson@stewardshipcode.nz.