Investment governance

As a significant investor in Australian and international markets we encourage the organisations we invest in to demonstrate a commitment to good governance.

How governance helps protect your investments

We believe that corporate governance is an important factor in enhancing the risk/return performance of investments. And as a major institutional investor, we have certain means at our disposal (e.g. proxy voting) to promote the adoption of best practice amongst the Australian and overseas companies in which we invest on your behalf.

Managing investment governance

UniSuper understand that there must be a balance between the rights of shareholders as owners of the company, and the needs of the board and management who must direct and manage the corporation's affairs.

We’re proactive in our approach to investment governance practices and will engage with companies when contentious corporate governance issues arise, typically through institutional investor coalitions.

Along with other institutional investors and organisations such as the Global International Governance Network, we have been involved in issues such as the corporate governance legal action against News Corporation in 2006.

Read our Proxy Voting Record for information on our voting decisions.

Our Investment Governance Policy

In determining our position on corporate governance issues, we pay special regard to the ACSI Guidelines. Alongside these guidelines, we have also developed an Investment Governance Policy, to provide a framework for making governance decisions that are in the best interests of our members.

This Investment Governance Policy is distributed to all of our external fund managers so that they understand our governance expectations and policies. This policy outlines our approach to:

• voting of shares at company Annual General Meetings or equivalent decision making forums
• working with other funds to promote good governance and encourage regulatory reform
• engaging with companies through organisations such as ACSI about corporate governance issues that have industry wide implications, and
• dealing with matters that fall outside Australian Council of Superannuation Investor Guidelines such as environmental and social factors.

Read our Investment Governance Policy for more information.

Voting of shares

As part of our Investment Governance Policy, we have adopted a formal voting procedure for our investments in listed Australian shares and overseas shares, which incorporates the ACSI Guidelines.

Our main influence on the corporate governance debate is through voting our shares at company Annual General Meetings and equivalent decision-making forums.

Read about our Voting Policy for more information.

Encouraging better investment research

UniSuper is pleased to be a member of Environmental, Social and Governance Research Australia (ESG RA).  Launched in February 2009, the ESG RA is an important way of ensuring that ESG research remains a priority for the Australian financial industry.

UniSuper was previously an active member of the Enhanced Analytics Initiative (EAI), whose efforts have since been amalgamated into the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment.

ESG RA seeks to pick up where the EAI left off, maintaining the impetus for investment research into ESG factors by Australian brokers and fund managers.

Climate Change Position Statement - Investments

Climate change is a major environmental and economic force that is resulting in a changed regulatory, business and social environment.  While UniSuper is not a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, some of the entities it invests in potentially might be.  As such, UniSuper has developed a Climate Change Position Statement - Investments, which outlines the approach UniSuper's investment team is adopting to climate change from an investment perspective.