AllianzGI Stewardship Statement Proxy voting AllianzGI’s approach to proxy voting of external audit, and sustainability-related issues. Exercising voting rights at shareholder meetings is a We apply proprietary Corporate Governance Guidelines fiduciary duty to our clients and a core part of AllianzGI’s across our holdings globally. We put great effort and care role as an active investor and of our stewardship process. into developing in-house views and positions on corporate Our goal is to vote at shareholder meetings of all companies governance and proxy voting matters. The Global we invest in where AllianzGI has the authority to exercise Corporate Governance Guidelines are underpinned by voting rights. detailed proxy voting policies that help to shape our voting decisions, while our proxy voting process ensures that AllianzGI is bound by the terms of investment management significant governance and voting matters, and potential agreements with our clients, including those related to conflicts of interest, are assessed on a case-by-case basis. proxy voting. We therefore may refrain from voting, or only vote on specified holdings/proportion of holdings in AllianzGI’s Global Corporate Governance Guidelines are institutional clients’ portfolios if so mandated by the client. approved by our Global Proxy Voting Committee. We AllianzGI respects the right of clients in segregated accounts review our Global Corporate Governance Guidelines and to retain voting rights, request that voting rights are related policies at least once per year, considering changes exercised in line with the client’s voting policy, or delegate in market developments, vote turn-out, regulatory proxy voting and engagement activities to a third-party amendments and changes in expectation levels of our service provider. We do not provide clients with the option clients. We include feedback from our service provider on to influence voting decisions on a case-by-case basis. the applicability of our voting policy in the review process. Finally, AllianzGI may refrain from voting if share blocking can be applied due to market regulation or custodian All proposed changes to the guidelines and the voting practices, or where specific market/custodian requirements policy require consultation with the investment platform make it impractical to vote. involving equity portfolio managers and analysts in all our locations globally. Input from our investment teams enables us to create a nuanced approach that combines global Global Corporate Governance Guidelines best practice standards for corporate governance with the and policy review knowledge of how these can be best applied and promoted in local markets. AllianzGI’s approach to corporate governance and proxy voting is set out in our Global Corporate Governance Proxy voting service providers Guidelines (documents: allianzgi.com). The Guidelines outline our expectations regarding corporate governance All proxy voting research and initial voting recommendations practices at investee companies, including composition are generated based on our own proprietary proxy voting and effectiveness of corporate boards, shareholder rights, policy. Proxy voting research is provided by Institutional capital-related authorities, executive compensation, quality Shareholder Services (“ISS”), a third-party proxy voting 13