2020 Awardees
And the winners are..
The winners of the ICGN Global Stewardship Awards, recognising excellence and innovation in investor stewardship were announced at the ICGN Global Virtual Summit, attended by over 200 governance and stewardship professionals, on 5 November 2020. The awards were presented by the International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN), an investor-led body with members representing assets under management (AuM) in excess of US$54trillion.
ICGN Global Stewardship Champion Award
The ICGN Global Stewardship Champion Award recognises individuals, organisations or collaborations whose actions have contributed significantly to making effective stewardship a reality in the markets in which they operate. This year’s award was given to SBI Funds Management Private Limited for its pioneering work on ESG integration in investment decisions in India.
Accepting the award, Navneet Munot, Executive Director and Chief Investment Officer, said:
“We are deeply honoured and humbled to receive the prestigious Global Stewardship Champion Award. In-depth engagement and active stewardship have been the integral pillars of our responsible investment philosophy. This global recognition will keep inspiring us to move forward with more rigour.”
ICGN Global Stewardship Disclosure Awards
The ICGN Global Stewardship Disclosure Awards recognise those investors whose public disclosures provide genuine insight into their stewardship policies and how they have been implemented, and whose approach to transparency and reporting provides a model that others might follow. Recipients are chosen by independent judging panels from a published shortlist.
Asset Managers< $60bn AuM
On receiving the award for asset managers with less than £60 billion assets under management, Narina Mnatsakanian, Director Sustainable & Impact Investment, Kempen Capital Management, said:
“Through our ‘real active’ approach to stewardship we aim to use our influence to positively change corporate behaviour for the benefit of all stakeholders and to help deliver long term value to our clients. We are honoured to receive this important award from ICGN, which is a great endorsement of the work of all our colleagues involved in stewardship. We are keen to hold ourselves to a high standard of transparency and disclosure that we also require of our investees and strive for continuous improvement.”
Asset Managers> $60bn AuM
Upon receiving the award for asset owners with over £60 billion assets under management, Carola van Lamoen Head SI Center of Expertise, Executive Director, Robeco:
“Robeco considers high quality stewardship, including reporting, a vital element in the fiduciary chain to drive positive, sustainable change. Appropriate disclosures are essential from companies to the market and also from investors towards their broader stakeholders. We are proud to receive recognition of our reporting from the ICGN, an organization whose members understand that disclosure is the starting point for accountability. We hope that ICGN’s acknowledgment of quality disclosures will continue to inspire the entire industry to further improve stewardship and governance efforts.”
Asset Owners< $60bn AuM
Anne-Maree O’Connor, Head of Responsible Investment collected the award, for asset owners with less than £60 billion assets under management, on behalf of NZ Superannuation Fund:
“Our performance is due to our organisation’s deep commitment to reporting and stewardship and the contribution and experience of our wider team. Our membership of the ICGN has provided the “go to” place for global standards, education and global perspectives. At the Guardians, we look forward to continuing to uphold excellent standards of disclosure, articulation of our investment beliefs and demonstration of how these beliefs are integrated in our policies and practices.”
Asset Owners> $60bn AuM
Royal London Group was awarded ICGN Global Stewardship Disclosure Award (Asset Owners> $60bn AuM)
Chair of ICGN
Announcing the awards Robert Walker, Chair of the ICGN Board of Governors, said:
“We have been delighted to see winners and nominees from so many parts of the world this year. We have an Indian stewardship champion, and the investors nominated in the disclosure categories came from nine countries in five continents. This shows that investor stewardship is no longer a niche interest in a small number of markets, but a global phenomenon. “