Finance minister Katy Gallagher has confirmed that she held informal talks with the sovereign wealth fund’s Board of Guardians amidst speculation its mandate could be changed to align it with the transition to net zero.
New Zealand’s sovereign wealth has set its future 20-year rolling returns forecast well above the risk-free rate but below the annualised 10 per cent it achieved in its first two decades of operation.
Definitive investor guide to governance
The ICGN, arguably the oldest and among the largest investor governance organisations in the world, will next month (July 8) launch a definitive guide to governance for asset managers and asset owners.
In the form of a 210-page e-book, titled ‘Governance, Stewardship and Sustainability: Theory, Practice and Evidence’, the guide seeks to add to the Global Governance Principles and Global Stewardship Principles on which the ICGN’s work program is based.
The International Corporate Governance Network was formed in 1995 with three main aims:
- Influence policy by providing a reliable source of investor opinion on governance and stewardship
- Connect peers at global events to enhance dialogue between companies and investors around long-term value creation, and
- Inform dialogue through education to enhance the professionalism of governance and stewardship practices.
The London-based organisation’s members speak for investor groups managing assets of about US$59 trillion as of 2020.
Kerrie Waring, ICGN chief executive, says in the book’s forward: “Now more than ever, society is questioning the role of corporations in society and their license to operate – this extends to the effectiveness of investors in holding them to account.
“This book provides an excellent roadmap in how this accountability is exercised and achieved and is particularly insightful, not only for investors, but also for companies and their advisors as they build understanding of investor expectations through stewardship.”
She says that the ICGN ‘Principles’ serve to remind everyone, as stated by the G20/OECD Principles from their 2015 meeting, that “stewardship is about preserving and enhancing long- term value as part of a responsible investment approach”.
Waring quoted: “This includes the consideration of wider ethical environmental and social factors as core components of fiduciary duty. In a broader context stewardship enhances overall financial market stability and economic growth.”
The e-book’s authors are George Dallas, ICGN’s London-based policy director and a former director of corporate governance at F&C Investments (now known as BMO Global Asset Management) and Washington-based Mike Lubrano, who advises on ICGN’s training courses and was the inaugural manager of the International Finance Corporation’s corporate governance unit.
Info and purchase details for the book and launch webinar on July 8 here.
