he Global Stewardship Principles were developed and endorsed by First State’s Global Responsible Investment Committee which is comprised of the CEO plus representatives from investment, distribution and other teams. This committee oversees First State’s responsible investment strategy and will review the Principles annually.
First State will also have the implementation of the Global Stewardship Principles subjected to an annual assurance process from this year onwards.
The first Stewardship Code was launched in the UK in 2010 with support of the UK National Association of Pension Funds and other leading global investors. Since then, a number of other jurisdictions have also codified stewardship practices in their domestic markets. In response to this First State have taken a global approach to formally disclosing their stewardship responsibilities across their entire investment portfolios.
The Global Stewardship Principles outline First State’s approach to ensuring that client interests are at the core of its investment process. The Principles include First State’s approach to managing conflicts of interest, monitoring and engaging with senior management of companies, intelligently executing voting rights, collaborating with other investors and how the stewardship activities will be disclosed, assured and reported.
“At First State, we recognise our significant responsibilities as stewards of our clients’ assets. These responsibilities include our role in maintaining the integrity and quality of the markets in which we operate and the allocation of investment capital to productive purposes. Our role as stewards is to ensure that we always act in our clients’ best interest and to protect and enhance their capital over the long term. These responsibilities may pose challenging topics with different shades of grey, however our global stewardship principles will ensure that we always use the best interests of our clients as our guide,” said Mark Lazberger, Chief Executive Officer at First State Investments.
Will Oulton, Global Head of Responsible Investment at First State Investments, added: “As a leading global asset manager a single set of globally applicable stewardship principles is in line with our approach to responsible investment. Actively monitoring and engaging with company management and diligently executing our ownership obligations are central to our stewardship responsibilities. We have taken this commitment one step further by formally developing this global set of stewardship principles across our global investment business.”
The First State Global Stewardship Principles can be found at www.firststateinvestments.com
