Before investing, VCIM develops a complete picture of issuer-specific strengths, weaknesses, opportunities or threats by evaluating policies, performance and practices regarding the environment, social responsibility and corporate governance. This thorough ESG review is combined with rigorous financial analysis to determine whether the issuer's securities are appropriate for the funds managed on behalf of investors. The ESG Team and Financial Team work in the same physical environment and participate in the decision-making process for selecting equities and fixed income. Through active discussions of the analytical findings, portfolio needs and materiality of risks we integrate ESG and financial information to make a determination of eligibility.
We conduct on-going monitoring of the portfolio holdings and, when new information becomes available we integrate it into our investment process and make a determination as whether or not the ESG risk is material. We then determine if engagement or divestment is required.