ASR Vermogensbeheer B.V., as a subsidiary of ASR Nederland N.V., wants to play a leading role in the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) for the financial sector."
Our Socially Responsible Investments Policy
ASR Nederland's responsible investment policy focuses on positive selection for best practices and best products based on ESG-criteria. This means that ASR Nederland favours companies that perform well within their sector or contribute towards sustainable development (eg. waste processing, recycling and clean energy). ASR also maintains an exclusion list based on multiple criteria and practices engagement/ SRI dialogue with a number of companies in which it has investment positions.
Since 2011 ASR has also signed the United Nations Principles of Responsible Investment (UNPRI) and the United Nations Global Compact (UN GC). Furthermore, ASR Nederland's CIO is the Chairman from the Investments Policy Committee at the Dutch Association of Insureres (Verbond van Verzekeraars). Under his coordination, the Verbond van Verzekeraars has agreed an industry-wide Sustainable Investments Code, which came into force on January 1st, 2012. ASR Nederlandhas was compliant with the Code already before the start. In 2013, ASR signed the UNEP FI Principles for Sustainable Insurers. In 2014, ASR signed the UN Call for Action against corruption. In 2015, ASR signed the Paris Pledge for Action to support the commitment to a safe and stable climate in which temparature rise is limited to under 2 degrees Celsius.
In order to expand and enhance its engagement activities, a.s.r. has embarked on a partnership with RobecoSAM's Governance & Active Ownership department with effect from 2016. The engagement program is based on remediating conflicts with the UN Global Compact (UNGC) in relation to human rights, labour rights, environment issues and ethical behaviour.
a.s.r. signed the investor statement of the Business Benchmark Farm Animal Welfare (BBFAW) published in May 2016 to contribute to creating greater awareness of animal welfare across the food sector and among investors.
a.s.r. also signed the UN PRI ESG Statement on ESG in Credit Ratings in May 2016, supporting the vision that ESG factors are relevant to the creditworthiness of issuers.4
In July 2016, a.s.r. Financial Markets ESG committee approved several means to advance a.s.r. SRI policy regarding environment and climate change, including:
• stricter engagement and/or exclusion policy for systematic and/or severe breaches to the environment
• exclusion policy for companies deriving 30% or more of their revenues related to coal and lignite.
These measures shall be implemented as of the first following SRI screening.
a.s.r. takes ownership as an active shareholder in its associates and exercises its voting rights with due care in accordance with the a.s.r. Voting Policy, which is aligned to the a.s.r. SRI policy.
The SRI policy is fully applicable to ASR Nederland N.V. and all its subsidiaries (ASR Levensverzekering N.V., ASR Schadeverzekeringen N.V., N.V. Amersfoortse Verzekeringen, Europeesche Verzekeringen N.V. and ASR Vermogensbeheer B.V.).