OP Asset Management exercises its rights as a shareholder on behalf of the unitholders of its funds to encourage companies to be more sustainable in their operations. In our recently published report on active ownership, you can read how we exercised our shareholder rights in the second half of 2023 and the first half of 2024.
In addition to taking sustainability into consideration in investment decisions, active ownership is an important part of sustainable and responsible investing. In practice, active ownership can be exercised in three ways: voting in general meetings, engaging in dialogue with companies and external asset managers, and supporting collaborative initiatives and statements by investors. OP Asset Management uses each of these methods to implement active ownership of its funds.
In the first half of 2024, OP Asset Management attended more than 900 general meetings, both internationally and in Finland. Sustainability-themed proposals by shareholders were discussed at general meetings especially in the United States, but unlike what has been the trend during the past few years, the proposals did not gain as wide support from shareholders as previously.
Active ownership has long been an integral part of OP's sustainable and responsible fund investing. OP's funds have actively exercised their voting right in foreign companies’ general meetings since 2017 and attended the general meetings of Finnish companies since 2010.
"It is possible that in the future, shareholder engagement will increasingly take the form of discussions held behind closed doors, instead of public actions by shareholders to influence companies' strategy and operations through shareholder proposals," says Kristiina Ruuska, ESG Lead in active ownership at OP.
In addition to voting at general meetings, direct dialogue with companies is an important part of OP's active fund ownership. Dialogues with individual companies focuses on violations of global norms, such as issues with workplace safety at investee companies, as well as the transparency of good governance and emissions reduction targets.
"In recent years, we have focused on developing our engagement measures of investee companies, particularly in the areas of compliance with international norms and emissions reduction," Ruuska lists.
Detailed information on how we exercise our voting rights and engage in dialogue with companies can be found in our latest report on active ownership. The report can be found here. (in Finnish)