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Act as a responsible financial institution
Promoting responsible finance
2.1.2
A FORMALISED ENGAGEMENT POLICY
2.1.2.1
Engagement for influence
Amundi has a policy committing it to influence specific issues,
helping companies move towards better practices. The issues
introduced in 2013 and 2014 and continued in 2015 deal with:
p
compliance of minerals from conflict areas, for the electronics
sector;
p
responsible lobbying practices of pharmaceuticals groups and
of the automotive industry;
p
respect for human rights in the mining and petroleum industries;
p
access to nutrition and countering food waste in the agrifoods
and retail sectors.
Besides these, we support international collective shareholder
initiatives (see Section 1.3.3.) The objective is to encourage
government authorities to provide incentives and companies to
improve their practices.
Amundi sent over 200 European issuers a brochure explaining its
SRI approach, its transparent and dialogue-based analysis and
ratings system, and the reasons behind its social commitment
policy. This brochure is part of the dialogue process that
characterises Amundi’s ESG analysis.
2.1.2.2
Voting at General Shareholders’ Meetings and
the pre-meeting dialogue
Starting in 1999 we have adopted our own voting policy, updated
yearly, that incorporates environmental and social criteria. We
exercise our voting rights in the General Shareholders’ Meetings
of the companies our portfolios have invested in.
The shareholder dialogue consists of regular, constructive
discussions with companies where we have the heaviest investment,
highlighting our desires as a responsible investor in regard to
the topics presented at the General Shareholders’ Meetings.
It is structured around a formalised system (
e.g.
, pre-alerts
before the General Shareholders’ Meetings) and enables greater
transparency, additional commitments, and changes to, or even
the discontinuation of, some of the Company’s practices.
Our voting policy
(1)
meets a three-fold objective: protect the interest
of shareholders, formalise and make public our desires in terms of
governance so as to facilitate dialogue with the companies and
contribute to the effectiveness of corporate governance as a whole
and thus to the efficiency of the markets.
Voting campaign
2014
2015
Meetings dealt with
2,576
2,565
Resolutions dealt with
31,237 32,396
2.1.2.3
Data collection for rating purposes
To refine the ratings given by the ESG analysis, the extra-financial
analysts meet with companies throughout the year. These are
selected based on the fraction of equity owned by Amundi and
the relative size of the holding in the portfolios or in the benchmark
indexes. In 2105, Amundi’s extra-financial analysts met with
274 companies and 93 senior managements.
Measuring the quality of ESG policies is a prerequisite to measuring
the issuer’s progress in terms of our engagement to having an
influence.
2.1.2.4
Significant events of 2015 in terms
of engagement
In the 2015 shareholder voting season there arose a debate
about the promotion of long-term investing and the dangers of a
short-term outlook. Two approaches emerged from this debate:
p
the first is to compensate buy-and-hold investors through specific
mechanisms. Trends in this direction include the Florange Law in
France, the “competitiveness” decree in Italy, Toyota’s AA shares
in Japan and the debate in Hong Kong about multiple classes
of stock after the Alibaba initial public offering;
p
the second approach is that of making investors more socially
responsible as can be seen in the development of stewardship
codes or in draft amendments to the EU’s shareholder rights
directive.
Although these two options have sometimes been opposed to
each other, Amundi believes that as a practical matter they are
compatible and has altered its voting policy accordingly. The various
ways of introducing the loyalty mechanisms on which Amundi took
a position in its votes have been studied on a case-by-case basis
as regards the need for shareholder stability to create long-term
value and the risks of disproportionate control to the detriment of
minority shareholders. As to the social responsibility of investors,
Amundi remains convinced that the educated exercise of voting
rights, together with constructive dialogue on improving practices,
will contribute to the long-term success of the companies in which
it invests. The quality of the conversations held in 2015 tends to
confirm the validity of this commitment.
(1) A report on voting rights exercised and shareholder discussions, updated half-yearly, is available on the Amundi website
(www.amundi.com).AMUNDI
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2015 CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY REPORT
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