01 03.5 Influencing companies through proxy voting Principles 7 8 12 Introduction 02 Sustainable investing Exercising voting rights at shareholder meetings is a We are committed to full transparency of our proxy- 03 fiduciary responsibility to our clients and a core part of voting activities. Our disclosures include detailed Global Active stewardship our role as an active investor. It allows us to have a say Corporate Governance Guidelines, a Stewardship Shaping pathways for a sustainable future 03.1 Our engagement approach on some of the most important issues affecting the long- Statement detailing our engagement and conflict of Removing barriers to 03.2 Engagement outcomes term development of investee companies – including interest policy and real-time disclosure of all votes by theme the election of board directors, executive compensation, cast, accessible through our website. This insight active stewardship 03.3 Collaborative engagements capital-related authorities and the appointment of includes commentary on our votes against resolutions 03.4 E scalation where initial external auditors. Other important voting topics include and abstentions. engagement is not enough climate change, workforce diversity, political donations Following the UK’s departure from the European 03.5 Influencing companies through and lobbying activities. Union, changes were implemented to the Irish proxy proxy voting voting system including to the central securities 03.6 Conflicts of interest We apply proprietary Corporate Governance Guidelines 10,190 depository (CSD) used by domestic issuers. An 03.7 Industry engagement across our holdings globally. We put great effort and shareholder meetings participated unintended consequence was that the European and commitments care into developing in-house views and positions in during 2021 replacement operated an intermediated system on corporate governance and proxy voting matters. that was structurally different from its predecessor. 04 Our voting decisions are informed by in-depth research, AllianzGI as a sustainable business analysis and discussions with investee companies which Representing 95% Changes included additional process constraints we often conduct over several years. Detailed proxy resulting in a number of shareholder meetings with 05 voting policies help shape our voting decisions. of all votable meetings “shareblocked” votes. This materially impacted our Appendix ability to exercise our stewardship responsibilities Voting on shareholder proposals is a key part of our in the market. stewardship programme. Shareholder proposals offer At 68% We joined a working group formed to raise the companies an important insight into the views and of meetings globally, we voted against, issue and engaged with various players across concerns of investors. They provide meaningful support withheld or abstained from at least the proxy voting value chain, including registrars, for issues raised that merit careful consideration by one agenda item voting service providers, custodians and CSDs. companies’ boards and management. Our objective was to push for changes to reduce Our goal is to vote at the shareholder meetings of all these adverse consequences, protect the rights the companies we invest in where we have the authority We opposed 21% of beneficial owners and improve the functioning to exercise voting rights. Our Proxy Voting Committee of all resolutions of the Irish capital market. Going forward, we will reviews vote outcomes and we evaluate and address review our voting experience in the market and notable year-on-year changes in the number of shares continue to hold stakeholders accountable for voted – see the case study on exercising voting rights any further process failings. with Irish companies below (right). We respect the right of clients in segregated accounts to retain voting rights, request that voting rights are exercised in line with the client’s voting policy, or delegate proxy voting and engagement activities to a third-party service provider. We do not provide clients with the option to influence voting decisions on a case-by-case basis.