BCI's SSA investments are predominantly limited to bonds issued by the Canadian federal government, provinces, municipalities and agencies or denominated in Canadian dollars. Credit rating agencies (CRAs) have increased the transparency of ESG integration into their ratings. BCI feels that governance and social factors that are material to credit worthiness are mostly captured by the CRAs, as well as priced in. While PMs consider environmental factors, BCI's processes could benefit from further formalization, especially should BCI consider new SSA issuers beyond their current exposure.

BCI leverages some third party ESG providers as a general approach, and leverage sell-side research providers that BCI considers to have a strong ESG framework. Furthermore, for higher materiality issues in the bond space, BCI's Public Markets ESG team is engaged for in-house views and reviews.

BCI leverages some third party ESG providers as a general approach, and leverage sell-side research that BCI considers to have a strong ESG framework. Furthermore, for higher materiality issues in the bond space, BCI's Public Markets ESG team is engaged for in-house views and reviews.

For Private Credit, all new potential investments seek an ESG review from BCI's in-house team no matter the materiality threshold. When opportunities arise, BCI performs an initial assessment of the creditworthiness of a borrower. If the opportunity passes this initial test, it is then subjected to more intensive due diligence, including ESG considerations, and ultimately presented to a formal credit committee that approves the investment. Each investment recommendation includes an ESG section. BCI has passed on certain investments due to ESG concerns.

ESG forms a key part of our investment agent BCI's risk assessment and credit research to evaluate the credit worthiness of issuers.

ESG forms a key part of our investment agent BCI's risk assessment and credit research that evaluates the credit worthiness of issuers. Even when ESG factors are not sufficient to warrant an exclusion of a corporate issuer BCI assess as part of their research process the potential for ESG factors to produce negative credit outcomes. In credit research BCI is much more focused on potential negative outcomes as part of their process irrespective of if potential outcomes are ESG related or not due to the asymmetric nature of the asset class.

Our investment agent BCI recently made an allocation to the private debt market. When opportunities arise, they perform an initial assessment of the creditworthiness of a borrower. If the opportunity passes this initial test, it is then subjected to more intensive due diligence, including ESG considerations, and ultimately presented to a formal credit committee that authorizes the investment. An ESG section is a required component of all investment recommendations that come to the committee.